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Barbara Presented Him with the Electric Lamp. 

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The Red Cross Girls 

t 

with the Russian Army 


By 


MARGARET VANDERCOOK 

\\ 

Author of *‘The Ranch Girls Series/* **Stories 
about Camp Fire Girls Series/' etc. 


1[llu6tcate^ ^ 


The John C. Winston Company 

Philadelphia 




Cop 5 Tight, 1916, by 
The John C. Winston Co. 


JAN -8 1917 


©GU455053 


a. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

1. A Peasant’s Hut in Russia 7 

II. A Former Acquaintance 23 

III. General Alexis 37 

IV. An Encounter 53 

V. Out of the Past 67 

VI. The Arrest 80 

VII. A Russian Church 92 

VIII. Another Warning 104 

IX. The Attack 118 

X. Mildred’s Opportunity ' 134 

XI. A Russian Retreat 148**^ 

XII. Petrograd 158 

XIII. The Next Step 174 

XIV. Mildred’s Return 191 

XV. The Winter Palace 206 

XVI. The Unexpected Happens 217 

XVH. The Departure 236 

XVHI. A Poem and a Conversation 247 

XIX. The Reunion 256 


( 5 ) 









THE RED CROSS GIRLS WITH 
THE RUSSIAN ARMY 


CHAPTER I 

A Peasanfs Hut in Russia 

I N the last volume of the Red Cross 
series the four American girls spent 
six months in tragic little Belgium. 
There, in an^American hospital in Brussels, 
devoted to the care, not of wounded sol- 
diers, but of ill Belgians, three of the girls 
lived and worked. 

But Eugenia went alone to dwell in a 
house in the woods because the cry of the 
children in Belgium made the strongest 
appeal to her. The house was a lonely 
one, supposed to be haunted, yet in spite 
of this Eugenia moved in. There the 
money of the girl whom her friend had 
( 7 ) 


8 


With the Russian Army 


once believed ‘‘poor as a church mouse” 
fed and cared for her quickly acquired 
family. 

In Eugenia’s haunted house were other 
sojourners furnishing the mystery of this 
story and endangering her liberty, almost 
her life. They were a Belgian officer 
and his family whom the Red Cross girl 
kept in hiding. Somehow the officer had 
managed to return to his own country 
from the fighting line in Belgium. After 
securing the papers he desired from the 
enemy, by Eugenia’s aid, he was enabled 
to return once more to King Albert and 
the Allied armies. Thus Eugenia was left 
alone to bear the brunt of the German 
displeasure after the discovery of her mis- 
deeds. She was imprisoned in Brussels, 
and became dangerously ill. Finally, be- 
cause she was an American, Eugenia was 
made to leave the country, rather than to 
suffer the punishment which would have 
been hers had she belonged to another 
nationality. 

But the four American Red Cross girls 
also had the companionship of Dick Thorn- 


A Peasant’s Hut in Russia 


9 


ton during their stay in the once lovely 
capital of Belgium. 

Dick had not recovered the use of his 
arm, but in spite of this had come to Brus- 
sels to help with the work of the Amer- 
ican Relief society. 

Here his once friendly relation with Bar- 
bara Meade no longer existed. Because of 
her change of attitude he apparently grew 
more attached to Nona Davis. 

However, at the close of the story, when 
Barbara is taking Eugenia back to southern 
France, she and Dick unexpectedly meet 
aboard a fog-bound ship. And in the 
darkness the light finally shines when Dick 
and Barbara discover at last that their 
feeling for each other is stronger than 
friendship. 

Later, near ‘‘the pool of truth” not far 
from the “Farmhouse with the Blue Front 
Door,” Eugenia Peabody again meets Cap- 
tain Henri Castaigne, the young French 
officer whom she had once nursed back to 
health. A short time afterwards he and 
Eugenia are married. 

Later the three other American Red 


10 


With the Russian Army 


Cross girls decide to continue their nursing 
of the wounded soldiers of the Allied armies 
in far-off Russia. 

One cold October > afternoon three Amer- 
ican girls were standing in the stone court- 
yard of a great Russian fortress near the 
border line of Poland. 

Situated upon a cone-shaped hill, the 
fort itself had been built like the three sides 
of a square, with the yard as the center. 
Along the fourth side ran a cement wall 
with a single iron gate. 

Evidently the three girls were engaged in 
Red Cross work, for they wore the familiar 
service uniforms. One of them had on a 
heavy coat and cap, but the other two 
must have just come out of doors for a few 
moments. 

Indeed, their first words revealed this 
fact. 

“1 really don’t feel that you should be 
starting upon this expedition alone, Nona,” 
Mildred Thornton argued. She was a tall 
girl, with heavy, flaxen hair and quiet, 
steel-gray eyes. She was gazing anxiously 
about her, for Russia was a new and 


A Peasant's Hut in Russia 


11 


strange world to the three American Red 
Cross nurses, who had arrived at their 
present headquarters only a few weeks 
before. 

Nearly a year had passed since the four 
friends separated in Belgium. Then Mil- 
dred and Nona Davis had remained at 
their posts to care for the homeless Belgian 
children, while Barbara Meade and Eugenia 
Peabody returned to southern France. 

Now at the close of Mildred Thornton’s 
speech to Nona, Barbara Meade frowned. 
She was poised on one foot as if expecting 
to flee at any moment. ^ 

quite agree with you, Mildred,” she 
protested. ‘^Nona’s message was far too 
mysterious and vague to consider answer- 
ing. We must not forget that we are now 
in a country and among a people whom we 
don’t understand in the least. Besides, 
I promised both Dick and Eugenia that we 
would be more careful. How I wish one 
or the other of them were here to advise us !” 

Shivering, Barbara, who was the young- 
est and smallest of the girls, slipped her 
arm through Mildred’s. 


12 


With the Russian Army 


A few yards before them sentries were 
marching slowly up and down, with their 
rifles resting on their shoulders, while a 
double row guarded a single wide gate. 
Every now and then a common soldier 
passed on his way to the performance of 
some special duty. Gray and colorless, the 
afternoon had a peculiar dampness as if the 
wind had blown across acres of melting 
snow. 

Nevertheless in reply to her friends’ 
objections Nona Davis shook her head. 

‘‘Yes, I realize you may both be right, 
and yet so urgent was my message that I 
feel compelled to do what was asked of 
me. But don’t worry about me, I have 
the letter with the directions safe in my 
pocket. Good-by.” 

Then before either of the other girls 
could find time to argue the point a 
second time, the young southern girl had 
kissed each of them and turned away. 
Later they saw her give the password at 
the gate and the sentry allow her to pass 
out. 

Before her lay a stretch of sparsely 


A Peasant’s Hut in Russia 


13 


settled country divided by a wide and 
much traveled road. Several miles further 
along a wide river crossed the land, but 
near at hand there were only small farms 
and meagre clumps of pine woods. 

After a few more words of disapproval, 
Barbara Meade shrugged her shoulders, 
and then she and Mildred re-entered the 
small curved doorway of the Russian fort. 
The left wing was being used as a hospital 
for the wounded, while the rest of the 
great fortification was crowded with oificers 
and soldiers. 

These men were being held in reserve 
to await the threatened invasion of the 
oncoming German hosts. Warsaw had 
fallen and one by one the ancient Russian 
fortifications once deemed invincible had 
given way before the German guns. But 
here at Grovno, under the command of 
the great General Alexis, the Russians 
were to make a final stand. 

However, without thinking of anything 
save personal matters, Nona Davis first 
set out along the main traveled road. 
Now and then she was compelled to step 


14 


With the Russian Army 


aside to let a great ox cart go past; these 
carts were filled with provisions being 
brought into the fort. Occasionally a 
covered car rattled past loaded with muni- 
tions of war, or a heavy piece of artillery 
drawn on low trucks. But one would like 
to have seen a far greater quantity of sup- 
plies of all kinds being brought to the old 
fortress. It was an open secret that the 
supply of munitions was not what it should 
be, and yet Grovno was expected to with- 
stand all attacks. 

But the young American girl was not 
reflecting upon the uncertainties of war 
during her walk. Neither did she feel any 
nervousness because of the newness of her 
surroundings, for the country in the rear 
of the fortifications was chiefly inhabited 
by Russian women and children and a few 
old men. 

Nona walked on quickly and with a 
speed and careless grace that covered the 
ground without apparent effort. 

She was looking extremely well, but 
above all other things Nona Davis appeared 
supremely interested. For some reason, 


A Peasant’s Hut in Russia 


15 


still unknown to her, she had been more 
stirred and excited by the coming into 
Russia than any country she had yet seen. 
She both admired and feared the Russian 
people, with their curious combination of 
poetry and stupidity, of dullness and pas- 
sion. Before returning to her own land 
she meant to try and understand them 
better. For somewhere she had read that 
the future art of the world was to come 
forth from Russia. It is the Slavic tem- 
perament and not the Anglo-Saxon that 
best expresses itself in music and literature. 

Nona’s errand this afternoon was a 
curious and puzzling one, fraught with 
unnecessary mystery. 

Four days before, a Russian boy about 
twelve years old had appeared at the gate 
of the fortress at Grovno, bearing a note 
addressed to Miss Nona Davis. Oddly 
enough, although the note was written in 
perfect English, it was not signed. In 
spite of this it requested that the American 
girl come to a small house about a mile and 
a half away to see a former friend. 

But who the friend could be, not one 


16 


With the Russian Army 


of the three girls could imagine. Yet they 
scarcely talked of anything else. Nona 
had no acquaintances in Russia save the 
people she had met in connection with her 
work, and there was no one in her past 
whom she could possibly conceive of having 
come into Russia as a tourist at such a 
time. 

Therefore it was Mildred Thornton’s 
and Barbara Meade’s opinion that Nona 
should pay not the slightest heed to such 
a communication. Anonymous letters lead 
to nothing but evil. But in spite of their 
objections, here at the first possible oppor- 
tunity Nona was obeying the behest. Prob- 
ably she could not have explained why, 
for she was too sensible not to appreciate 
that possible discomfort and even danger 
might lie ahead of her. Perhaps as much 
as anything she was actuated by a spirit 
of sheer adventure. 

So it is little wonder that during her 
walk Nona’s thoughts were now and then 
engaged with her own affairs. Yet after 
a little her attention wandered from the 
immediate future and she fell to recalling 


A Peasant’s Hut in Russia 


17 


the history of the past years’ experiences, 
her own and her three friends. 

No wonder Barbara was often lonely 
and homesick fpr Dick Thornton. 

She had become engaged to him on the 
fog-bound trip she had made with him in 
getting Eugenia safely out of Belgium. 
Remembering Eugenia’s escape, Nona said 
a short prayer of thankfulness. After her 
hiding of the Belgian officer and his family 
from the German authorities, she would 
never have been allowed to leave Belgium 
unpunished had she not been an American 
woman. Remembering the fate of the 
English girl who had committed the same 
crime, Nona appreciated how much they 
had to be thankful for. 

And now Eugenia was married to Cap- 
tain Castaigne, the young French officer. 
Curious that among the four of them who 
had come from the United States to do 
Red Cross work among the Allies, Eugenia 
should be the first to marry! She, a New 
England old maid, disapproving of matri- 
mony and, above all, of international 
marriages I 


18 


With the Russian Army 


Yet the wedding had taken place in 
the previous spring at the little French 
‘‘Farmhouse with the Blue Front Door,” 
where the four girls had spent the most 
cheerful months]since their arrival In Europe 
for the war nursing. 

Only once had Nona and Mildred de- 
serted their posts in Belgium, where they 
had continued Eugenia’s work of caring 
for the homeless Belgian children. Then 
they had gone to attend her wedding, 
but had returned to Belgium as soon as 
possible. 

But Eugenia and Captain Castaigne 
had taken scarcely more time for their 
own honeymoon. 

Soon after the ceremony Captain Cast- 
aigne had gone to rejoin his regiment and 
three days after Eugenia had become a 
member of the staff of a French hospital 
near her husband’s line of trenches. 

So it turned out that Barbara Meade 
was left at the Chateau d’Amelie, as 
Madame Castaigne’s friend and companion. 
Dick Thornton boarded in the village 
near by, so that he and Barbara had a 
number of happy months together. 


A Peasant's Hut in Russia 


19 


But Dick had finally decided that he 
must return to America and had urged 
Barbara and his sister Mildred to return 
with him. Of course, Nona had been in- 
vited to accompany them, but no special 
pressure had been brought upon her. 

However, Mildred did not feel that her 
Red Cross work in Europe was finished, 
while Barbara refused to desert her friends. 

But Barbara had another reason for 
her decision: she desired Dick to be 
alone when he confessed their engage- 
ment to his mother and father. Barbara 
had little fear of Judge Thornton’s dis- 
approval, but felt reasonably convinced 
that Mrs. Thornton would be both dis- 
appointed and aggrieved. Certainly she 
had never hesitated to announce that she 
expected her son Dick to make a brilliant 
match. How could she then be satisfied 
with a western girl of no wealth or dis- 
tinction ^ 

It happened that Dick Thornton also 
had a private reason for finally agreeing 
to Barbara’s wish. His experiences in 
the past, two years had given him a new 


20 


With the Russian Army 


point of view toward life. No longer was 
he willing to be known only as his father’s 
son and to continue being supported by 
him. Before Dick married he intended 
making a position for himself, so as to be 
able to take care of his own wife. 

Nona also recalled that she was really 
responsible for their coming into Russia. 
It had seemed to her that they must make 
their Red Cross work complete by nursing 
in the largest of the Allied countries. 

However, Nona had now to cease her 
reflections, for she had come to a place in 
the road where she had been told to turn 
aside. 

To make sure the girl opened her note 
and re-read it for probably the tenth time. 
Yes, here were the three pine trees, green 
shadows against the autumn sky, and here 
also was the narrow path that began along- 
side of them. 

After another fifteen minutes’ walk Nona 
discovered that she was approaching a hut 
of the poorest character. It was built of 
logs, with mud roughly filling up a number 
of cracks. 


A Peasant’s Hut in Russia 


21 


Already Nona was learning to under- 
stand that the Russian poor are perhaps 
the poorest people in the world. This hut 
was not so poverty-stricken as many others j 
she had seen; at least, there were two win- 
dows and a front door. 

Outside a hungry dog prowled about, 
showing not the slightest interest in the 
newcomer. Yet Nona was vaguely fright- 
ened. She stopped for a moment to re- 
flect. Should she go in or not ? The place 
looked ugly and depressing and she could 
see no signs of human beings. 

Yet perhaps there was illness inside the 
house and she had been sent for to give 
aid. If that were true she must not hesi- 
tate. 

As Nona lifted her hand to knock at the 
door, suddenly it occurred to her as curi- 
ous that the note she had received had 
been written upon extremely fine paper 
and in a handwriting which revealed breed- 
ing and education. Yet this peasant's hut 
suggested neither the one nor the other. 

But Nona was more mystified than fear- 
ful since her Red Cross uniform was her 


22 


With the Russian Army 


protection, and these were not days when 
one dared think of oneself. 

She knocked quietly but firmly on the 
'"wooden door. 

The next moment the heavy bar was 
slipped aside. Then Nona saw a woman 
of about thirty-five, dressed in the costume 
of a Russian peasant, standing with both 
hands outstretched toward her. 

‘‘My dear,” she began in perfect English, 
“this is better fortune than I dreamed, to 
find you once again, and in Russia, of all 
countries!” 


CHAPTER II 


l 


A Former Acquaintance 

1 ^ UT,” Nona began, and then hesi- 
tated, feeling extraordinarily puz- 
zled. The face of the woman be- 
fore her was oddly familiar, although she 
could not at the instant recall where or 
when she had known her. 

Yet she remembered the deep blue-gray 
eyes with their perfectly penciled dark 
brows and lashes, even the rather sad ex- 
pression of them. However, she must be 
mistaken, since she could have no acquaint- 
ance in Russia! 

However, she allowed herself to be quietly 
led inside the hut, where the door was 
immediately closed behind her. Then the 
girl followed the woman inside a bare 
chamber, furnished with only a few chairs 
and a rough table. In an upper corner 
hung an ikon, the Russian image of the 
Christ. The face of the Christ was painted 
( 23 ) 


24 


With the Russian Army 


in brilliant colors set inside a brass square 
and this square enclosed in a dark wooden 
frame. 

The Ikon Is to the Russian who is a 
Greek Catholic what the crucifix is to the 
Roman Catholic. No orthodox Russian 
home Is ever without one. 

But after the first glance, Nona Davis 
gave no further consideration to her sur- 
roundings. Before her companion could 
speak the second time she had suddenly 
recognized her. 

‘‘Why, Lady Dorian, what has brought 
you to Russia? You are the last person I 
expected to see! Since our meeting on 
board the ‘Philadelphia’ and your stay at 
the Sacred Heart Hospital I have so often 
wondered what ^ad become of you, and if 
you were well and happy. You promised 
to write me.” 

“Then you have not forgotten me?” 
Before saying anything more the older 
woman found a chair for her guest and 
another for herself. 

“No, I have not written you, but I have 
thought of you many times and have fol- 


A Former Acquaintance 


25 


lowed your history more closely than you 
dream,” she returned quietly, yet with 
evident earnestness. “I have been well 
and I suppose as happy as most people. 
How can any human being be anything 
but wretched during this tragic war.^ If 
only we might have peace!” 

Lady Dorian’s face became white and 
drawn and Nona felt that she had aged a 
great deal since their first meeting, and 
indeed since the months they had spent as 
fellow workers for the British soldiers at 
the Sacred Heart Hospital. Nevertheless 
she still felt strangely attracted toward her 
companion, although mingled with the 
attraction was a new and uncomfortable 
feeling of distrust. 

Lady Dorian had come to the hospital 
cleared of the charge made against her on 
board the ‘‘Philadelphia” of being a spy. 
Yet she had never given any explanation 
of her history. Then had followed her 
surprising meeting with the British officer. 
Colonel Dalton, and their betrayal of a 
former acquaintanceship. Although the 
older woman had promised to explain their 


26 


With the Russian Army 


connection later, she had only said that 
they had once known each other rather 
intimately in London. But as they were 
friends no longer, she preferred not speaking 
of him again. 

All this passed swiftly through Nona’s 
mind while the older woman was speaking. 
But the girl devoutly hoped that her face 
did not betray her thoughts. For here was 
the most surprising situation of all! Lady 
Dorian had seemed to be a woman of wealth 
at the beginning of their acquaintance and 
certainly had given a large sum of money 
to the Sacred Heart Hospital. Now to 
find her dressed as a peasant and living in a 
peasant’s hut in Russia! 

Her skirt was of some cheap black ma- 
terial and her bodice of velveteen, laced 
with black cords over a white cotton waist. 
She also wore a Russian peasant’s apron of 
brighter colors. 

Yet Nona recognized the older woman’s 
beauty and distinction in spite of her cos- 
tume, even while her present circumstances 
and her eccentricities antagonized her vis- 
itor. 


A Former Acquaintance 


27 


The woman was sitting with her level 
brows drawn together looking closely at 
the younger girl. 

‘'I am sorry you don’t seem to feel your 
former faith in me, Nona,” she began 
unexpectedly. ‘‘Not that I blame you, for 
I do not know myself whether it is wise for 
me to have intruded into your life again. 
I would not have done so if there had not 
been a reason more important than you 
can appreciate.” 

For a moment the girl’s attention had 
been wandering, engaged by the oddness 
of her surroundings, but now she tried to 
conceal her growing discomfort. Lady 
Dorian was appearing more mysterious 
than ever! If she desired to renew their 
acquaintance because they had formerly 
liked each other, that was a sufficient rea- 
son for her summons. It was scarcely 
worth while to try to produce other motives. 

But Lady Dorian had gotten up and now 
stood facing her. 

“What I am going to tell you is extraor- 
dinary, Nona, although life is too full of 
strange happenings to make us wonder at 


28 


With the Russian Army 


anything. In the first place, will you 
please cease to call me Lady Dorian, for that 
is not my name. Nor is it remarkable for 
you to discover me living in Russia, be- 
cause I am a Russian by birth. I have not 
always made my home in my own coun- 
try, but that makes no difference, since my 
love and sympathy have always been with 
my own people. Here I am only known 
as ^ Sonya.’ But I do not wish to speak of 
myself, but of you. I have a strong rea- 
son for my interest in you, Nona, for 
although you may find it hard to believe, 

I once knew your mother.” 

‘‘ Knew my mother 'i ” The young Amer- 
ican girl scarcely understood what was 
being said. She was so many thousands of 
miles both in fact and in thought from her 
own home and her own history. She could “ 
not believe that her companion was telling 
the truth. In any case she was merely 
mistaking her for some one else. 

So Nona shook her head gravely. “I 
am sorry, but I don’t think that possible,” 
she explained. ‘‘My mother was a south- 
ern woman, who lived very quietly in an 


A Former Acquaintance 


29 


old-fashioned city. I can’t see how your 
lives could ever have touched.” 

Until this instant Nona had remained 
seated with her former friend standing 
before her. 

She did not realize how much she showed 
her resentment at this use of her mother’s 
name. Now she made an effort to rise 
from her chair. 

‘‘I am very happy to have seen you 
again,” she protested in the formal manner 
which Barbara Meade sometimes admired 
and at other times resented. 

But her companion was not influenced 
and indeed paid no attention to the younger 
girl’s hauteur. She merely put a restrain- 
ing hand on her shoulder, adding, 

‘‘It is not worth while for us to argue 
that point until you hear what I have to 
say. The fact is, [I know more of your 
mother, Nona, than you do yourself. For 
one thing, your mother was also a Russian. 
She was older than I, but we were together 
at one time In the United States. She 
went to visit In New Orleans and there 
met your father and married. I knew she 


30 


With the Russian Army 


had a daughter by your name, but curiously 
when I first met you on board the steamer 
your name conveyed nothing to me. Per- 
haps the last thing I expected was to find 
the daughter of your father, General Robert 
Davis, serving as a Red Cross nurse. He 
was a conservative of the old school, and I 
supposed would never have allowed you to 
leave home. But after we came together 
again and I met you for the second time at 
the Sacred Heart Hospital, I began to 
think of what association I had with your 
name. Soon I remembered and then I 
endeavored to discover your history. There 
was a chance that the name had no con- 
nection with the girl I sought. But it was 
simple enough to make the discovery.” 

‘‘Simple enough to make the discovery!” 
Stupidly Nona Davis repeated the words 
aloud, because they puzzled her. Then it 
occurred to her that the woman before her 
was so associated with mysteries that a 
family problem must be comparatively 
simple. Doubtless she had been able to 
discover more of Nona’s mother’s history 
than she herself had ever found out. 


A Former Acquaintance 


31 


But Nona was by no means pleased with 
the thought of an association between her 
own people and Lady Dorian, who had* 
just frankly confessed that this name had 
been an assumed one. 

Nor did she wish to go into the subject 
of her family connection with so uncomfort- 
able a stranger. First she wished to have 
time to think the situation over and to try 
to make it clearer to her own mind. Then 
she wished to discuss it with Mildred and 
Barbara. 

The girl glanced at the old-fashioned 
watch belonging to her father, which she 
always wore. In the back it held her 
mother’s picture, but not for worlds would 
she have revealed this fact at the moment. 

Curious that she should feel this extreme 
distrust of her companion, when she had 
been her ardent defender in their earlier 
acquaintance! But then she had never 
expected to be drawn into any intimacy 
with her. 

Besides, Russia was an incomprehensible 
country. The class distinctions which had 
so impressed her in England were as nothing 
to the differences in rank here. 


32 


With the Russian Army 


Russia, in truth, seemed a land of princes 
and paupers! To a girl of Nona Davis’ 
ideas and training, to find herself associated 
with the lower orders of Russian society 
was distinctly disagreeable. She had lived 
so long on the tradition of family that social 
position seemed of first importance. 

Now her former acquaintance was living 
in a peasant’s house and was dressed like a 
peasant woman. Some strange change 
must have taken place in her life to reduce 
her to such a position, when previously she 
had given the impression of wealth and 
distinction. 

Nona got up hurriedly, drawing her coat 
about her. Later perhaps she might be 
willing to hear what the other woman 
wished to confide, but not today. 

Yet Nona felt that she did not wish to 
look into her companion’s eyes. She must 
try not to think of her any longer as Lady 
Dorian, though ‘‘Sonya” was an exquisite 
Russian name, it certainly gave no clue to 
her identity. 

However, she could not fail to see that 
the other woman’s expression revealed 


A Former Acquaintance 


33 


surprise and sorrow at her attitude, but was 
without resentment. It was as if she had 
grown accustomed to distrust and coldness. 

‘‘I am sorry you don’t wish me to speak 
of your mother, Nona. It is true I can 
give you no explanation of the change in 
my surroundings, but the present need not 
affect the past. I know that your father 
has kept your mother’s story a secret from 
you. Yet there is nothing in it of which you 
may not be proud, that is, if you have the 
nature which I have hoped to find in you.” 

Embarrassed and yet determined not 
to listen any further, Nona continued 
obstinately walking toward the door, with 
Sonya quietly following her. 

“Will you wait a moment, please?” 
the older woman asked. “I have two 
friends here in the house with me, whom 
I would like you to meet. When you 
talk me over with Mildred and Barbara 
to find out their opinion of me and of what 
I have tried to tell you, you can explain 
to them that I am not alone. I realize 
that I have always been a mystifying 
acquaintance and I’m sorry, but it is not 

3 


34 


With the Russian Army 


possible to tell you my history at present. 
Some day I may be able to explain.’’ 

Sonya’s tone was half grave and half 
gay. Moreover, her blue eyes with their 
curiously dark brows and lashes watched 
the younger girl with an almost wistful 
affection. 

The situation was more than puzzling. 
Yet, although she grew more anxious each 
minute to be away, Nona could only agree 
to her companion’s request. 

For a moment she was left alone in the 
crude, bare room. It was cheerless and 
cold and she grew even more uncomfort- 
able. Surely, Russia was the strangest 
land in the world. How could her history 
as a young American girl have any con- 
nection with it.^ Why had she so insisted 
upon continuing her Red Cross nursing 
in Russia, when without her urging the 
other Red Cross girls would have been 
content to remain where they were.^ 

The next moment a very old woman 
and a man came into the room with Sonya. 
There was no doubting they were both 
peasants. With them it was not merely a 


A Former Acquaintance 


35 


matter of rough clothes. They were both 
heavily built, with stupid, sad faces and 
they mumbled something in broken English 
when they were introduced to Nona, eye- 
ing her with suspicion. It was only when 
their gaze rested upon Sonya that their 
faces changed. Then it was as though a 
light had shone through darkness. 

Sonya introduced them by name, some 
queer Russian name which Nona could 
not grasp. 

However, she was trying her best to 
find something civil to say in return, 
which they might be able to understand, 
when an unexpected noise interrupted them. 

Some one had unceremoniously opened 
the door in the hall and was walking 
toward them. 

For an instant Nona thought she saw 
a shade of anxiety cross the faces of her 
three companions, but the next instant 
it was gone. 

Nona could scarcely swallow a gasp of 
surprised admiration when, soon after, the 
door opened. 

A young Russian soldier entered the 


36 


With the Russian Army 


room. He wore the uniform of a Cossack: 
the high boots, the fur cap and tunic. 

To Nona Davis’ American eyes the 
young man seemed a typical Russian of 
the better classes. He was extremely 
handsome, more than six feet tall, with 
dark hair and eyes and a colorless skin. 

He appeared surprised at Nona’s pres- 
ence, but explained that he was stationed 
at the Russian fort where a number of 
wounded were being cared for. He re- 
membered having seen Nona and her two 
friends. They were the only American 
nurses in the vicinity, so it was not strange 
to have noticed them. 

Michael Orloff was the soldier’s name. 
Sonya spoke it with distinctness, but gave 
him no title. Yet evidently they knew 
each other very well. 

A moment later and Nona finally got 
away. She was late and nervous about 
returning to the fortifications alone. Yet 
as she hurried on she was thinking over 
the afternoon until her head ached with 
the mystery of it. Perhaps it might be 
wise if she could avoid meeting this par- 
ticular group of people again. 


CHAPTER III 


General Alexis 


^LL that day Mildred Thornton had 
/-% scarcely left the bedside of her pa- 
^ ^ tient. 

For the Russian boy was dying, and as 
there was no hope for him, Mildred could 
only do her best to make him as comfort- 
able as possible. 

Now he seemed half asleep, so with her 
hands folded in her lap the girl sat near 
him trying to rest, although unable to 
keep her mind as quiet as her hands. 

How strange her surroundings! Since 
her arrival in Europe’ as a Red Cross nurse 
she had lived and worked in two other 
countries and certainly had passed through 
remarkable experiences, yet none of them 
were to be compared with these few wefeks 
of nursing in Russia. One might have 
been transferred to another planet instead 
of another land. 


( 37 ) 


38 


With the Russian Army 


As an ordinary American tourist, Mil- 
dred had been familiar with Europe for 
several years, having spent three summers 
abroad traveling with her parents. But 
this was her first vision of the East, for 
Russia is eastern, however she may count 
herself otherwise. 

The American girl now lifted her eyes 
from the figure of the dying boy and let 
them wander down the length of the room 
which sheltered them. 

An immense place, it held rows on rows 
of other cot beds with white-clad nurses 
passing about among them. When they 
spoke or when the patients spoke Mil- 
dred could rarely guess what was being 
said, as she knew so few words of Russian. 
Yet she had little difficulty with her nursing, 
for the ways of the ill are universal and. she 
had already seen so much suffering. 

Now the hospital room was in half 
shadow, but it was never light nor aired 
as the American nurse felt it should be. 

The hospital quarters were only a portion 
of the fortress, a great room, like a barracks 
which had been hastily turned into a refuge 
for the wounded. 


General Alexis 


39 


The long stone chamber boasted only 
four small windows hardly larger than port- 
holes and some distance from the ground. 
These opened with difficulty and were pro- 
tected by heavy iron bars. But then in 
Russia in many private houses no window 
is ever voluntarily opened from autumn 
until Easter, as the cold is so intense and 
the arrangements for heating so crude. 

Today Mildred wondered if the heavy, 
sick-laden air was giving her extraordinary 
fancies. She kept seeing dream pictures. 
For as she stared about the cold chamber 
of sorrow she beheld with greater distinct- 
ness the image of her own rooms at home. 

This was the hour when the maid came 
to light her yellow-shaded electric candles; 
then she would put a fresh log on the fire 
and stir it to brightness, not because the 
added warmth was needed in their big 
steam-heated house, but because of the 
cheerfulness. Then would follow her moth- 
er’s invitation to drink a cup of tea with 
her and Dick in the library, or would she 
prefer having it served in her own room? 

With this thought the girl’s eyes clouded 


40 


With the Russian Army 


for a moment. Doubtless Dick and her 
mother would be having tea together this 
afternoon and Dick would in all probability 
be trying to explain why his sister was not 
with him. During her work in France 
and Belgium her mother and father had 
been more than kind, but with this sugges- 
tion of coming into Russia to continue 
her nursing both her parents had protested. 

It is true that they had not actually 
demanded her presence at home, for she 
would not have disobeyed a command. 
But undoubtedly they had urged her home- 
coming. 

Her father longed for her because of 
the rare affection between them and the 
fact that he dreaded the conditions and 
experiences that might await her and her 
friends in Russia. For these same rea- 
sons her mother also desired her return, 
yet Mildred knew that there was another 
motive actuating her mother. She might 
be unconscious of the fact, but if her 
daughter should reappear in New York 
society at the present time, because of her 
war experiences she would become an 
object of unusual interest and attention. 


General Alexis 


41 


At this instant the smile that appeared 
at the corners of the girl’s mouth banished 
the tired expression it had previously worn. 
One big thing her war experiences had done 
for Mildred Thornton, it had given her a 
new sense of values. Now she knew the 
things that counted. She had learned to 
smile at her own failure as a society girl, 
even to understand and forgive her mother’s 
chagrin at the fact. 

Yet Mildred was influenced in a measure 
to continue her work in Europe by these 
trivial points of view. 

Should she return home and re-enter 
society as her mother wished, sooner or 
later she must prove a second disappoint- 
ment. For she had no social gifts; she 
could never learn to talk as her friends did. 
If questions were asked of her she could 
only reply with facts, not because she was 
lacking in sympathy or imagination, but 
because she had not the grace of words. 
So with neither beauty nor charm, how 
could she ever even hope to gratify her 
mother by securing the distinguished hus- 
band she so desired for her? 


42 


With the Russian Army 


But since there was a place in the world 
for bees as well as butterflies, Mildred 
never meant to allow herself to grow un- 
happy again. She had a real talent for 
nursing; her work had received only praise. 
So here in Europe, where there seemed to 
be the greatest need of her services, she 
meant to remain as long as possible. This, 
in spite of the alluring picture of home 
which would thrust itself before her 
consciousness. 

At this instant the boy on the bed moved 
and sighed and at the same instant the 
American girl forgot herself. He had 
opened his eyes and Mildred could see that 
he had become dimly conscious of his own 
condition and his surroundings. 

But this boy could never have been more 
than dimly conscious of most things in 
his short life, he was so stupid and could 
neither read nor write; indeed, he had a 
vocabulary of but a few hundred words. 
Peter had been a laborer on the estates 
of a Polish nobleman when the call came 
to arms. And so often in the past week 
while she had been caring for him Mildred 


General Alexis 


43 


had been reminded of some farm animal 
by the way the boy endured pain, he had 
been so dumb and uncomplaining. 

Even now he made no attempt to speak, 
but as she leaned over and took his hand 
Mildred realized that the boy could live 
but a few moments longer. 

After a little tender smoothing of his 
cover the girl turned away. The Russian 
peasant is always a devout Catholic, so 
Mildred realized that he would wish a 
priest with him at the end. 

She had walked only a few feet from the 
young soldier’s bedside when an unaccus- 
tomed atmosphere of excitement in the 
ward arrested her attention. 

It would not be necessary for her to 
summon a priest; some one must have 
anticipated her desire. For the priest 
was even now approaching. However, 
he was a familiar figure, passing hourly 
among the wounded and their attendants; 
his presence would cause no excitement. 

The next instant Mildred understood 
the priest was not alone. He was accom- 
panied by one of the most famous men in 
all Europe. 


44 


With the Russian Army 


Although she had never seen him until 
this instant, Mildred Thornton had not a 
moment’s doubt of the man’s identity. 
This was the Commander of the fortress 
at Grovno, General Dmitri Alexis, at the 
present hour the bulwark of many Russian 
hopes. 

For the past few weeks the Germans 
had been driving the Russians farther and 
farther back beyond the boundaries of 
Poland and near the' heart of Russia. Here 
at Grovno the Russian army was expected 
to make a victorious stand. The faith of 
the Russian people was centered in Gen- 
eral Dmitri Alexis. 

Unlike most Russian officers, he had 
always been devoted to the interests of 
the common people, although a son of one 
of Russia’s noble families. But he was 
known to be a shy, quiet man with little 
to say for himself, who had risen to his 
present rank by sheer ability. 

To Mildred’s eyes he seemed almost an old 
man ; in fact, he must have been about fifty. 
His hair was iron gray, but unlike most 
Russians his eyes were a dark blue. As 


General Alexis 


45 


he wore no beard, the lines about his 
mouth were so stern as to be almost for- 
bidding. 

Mildred knew that he was an intimate 
personal friend of the Czar and realized 
just to what extent he must feel the weight 
of his present responsibilities. 

Therefore she was the more surprised 
at his appearance in the hospital ward. 

Except for a courtly inclination of his 
head the great man paid no attention to 
the greetings that were offered him by the 
nurses and doctors. Walking down the 
center of the room he had eyes only for 
the wounded men who lined the two walls. 
Then his sternness relaxed and his smile 
became a curious compound of pity and 
regret. 

Mildred found herself staring without 
regard to good manners or breeding. Why 
should this man create such an atmosphere 
of trust and respect? She had seen other 
great generals in the armies of the Allies 
before today, but never one who had made 
such an impression. 

General Alexis and the priest paused 


46 


With the Russian Army 


by the bedside of the Russian boy who was 
Mildred’s patient. 

There the great man’s face softened 
until it became almost womanish in its 
sympathy. Slowly and reverently the 
dying boy attempted to raise his general’s 
hand to his lips. 

General Alexis said a few words in Rus- 
sian which the young soldier understood, 
but Mildred could not. For he attempted 
to shake his head, to whisper a denial, 
then smiling dropped his arms down by 
his sides. 

Mildred made no eifort to move forward 
to assist him, for she did not feel that she 
had a place in the little group at this 
moment. She merely watched and waited, 
trying to see clearly through the mist in 
her eyes. 

The boy’s broad chest, strong once as a 
young giant’s, but now with a scarcely 
beating heart beneath it, quivered with 
what seemed a final emotion. The same 
instant General Alexis leaned down and 
pinned against the white cotton of his 
rough shirt the iron cross of all the Rus- 


General Alexis 


47 


slas. Afterwards he kissed him as simply 
as a woman might have done. 

That was all! So natural and so quiet 
it was, Mildred Thornton herself was hardly 
aware of the significance of the little scene 
she had just witnessed. 

Here in a country where the gulf between 
the rich and the poor, the humble and the 
great was well nigh impassable, a single 
act of courage had bridged it. 

What act of valor Peter had performed 
Mildred never knew. She only knew that 
it had called from his duties one of the 
greatest men in Europe, that he might by his 
presence and with his own hands show 
homage to the humblest of soldiers. 

When the simple ceremony was over 
the boy lay quite still, scarcely noticing 
that his general knelt down beside his bed. 
For his eyes were almost closing. 

Neither did Mildred dare move or speak. 

Against the walls the other nurses and 
doctors stood quiet as wooden figures, 
while the wounded were hushed to unac- 
customed silences. 

Then the Russian priest began to intone 


48 


With the Russian Army 


in words which the American girl could 
not understand, but in a voice the most 
wonderful she had ever heard. His tones 
were those of an organ deep and beautiful, 
of great volume but without noise. 

Ceasing, he lifted an ikon before the 
young soldier’s dimming eyes, and pro- 
nounced what must have been a benediction. 

The next moment the great stillness had 
entered the hospital chamber and the 
Russian boy with the iron cross above his 
heart lay in his final sleep. 

All at once Mildred Thornton felt extraor- 
dinarily weary. Backward and forward she 
could see the big room rise and recede 
as though it had been an immense wave. 
The dim light was turning to darkness, 
when instinctively reaching out her hand 
touched the back of a chair. With this 
she steadied herself for the moment. Until 
now she had not known how tired she 
was from her vigil, nor how she had been 
moved by the scene she had just wit- 
nessed. After a little she would go to her 
own room and perhaps Nona or Barbara 
would be there. But she must wait until 


General Alexis 


49 


General Alexis and the priest had gone 
away. 

The next moment she realized that the 
great man had risen and was approaching 
toward her. 

Mildred looked wholly unlike a Russian 
woman. Her heavy flaxen hair, simply 
braided and twisted about her head, showed 
a few strands underneath her nurse’s cap. 
Her face was almost colorless, yet her 
pallor was unlike the Russian, which is of 
a strange olive tone. Now and then in 
her nurse’s costume Mildred Thornton 
became almost beautiful, through her air 
of strength and refinement and the un- 
usual sweetness of her expression. 

The eyes that were turned toward Gen- 
eral Alexis were a clear blue-gray, but there 
were deep circles under them, and the 
girl swayed a little in spite of her effort 
to stand perfectly still. 

For several seconds the great man re- 
garded her in silence. Then he stretched 
forth his hand. 

^^You are an American Red Cross nurse, 
I believe. May I have the honor of shak- 


50 


With the Russian Army 


ing your hand. I have been told that 
three young American women are here at 
our fortress at Grovno helping to care for 
our wounded. You have traveled many 
miles for a noble cause. In the name of 
my Emperor and his people may I thank 
you.’’ 

The little speech was made in perfect 
English and with such simplicity that 
Mildred did not feel awed or surprised. 

However, she was not certain how she 
replied or if she replied at all. She only 
felt her cold fingers held in a hand like 
steel and the next moment the great gen- 
eral had gone out of the room. 

Immediately after Mildred found her- 
self surrounded by a group of Russian 
nurses. The Russians are amazing lin- 
guists and several of the nurses could 
speak English. Evidently they were over- 
whelmed by the honor the American girl 
had just had bestowed upon her. It had 
almost overshadowed for the time the 
greater glory of the young soldier. 

An American Red Cross nurse had been 
individually thanked by one of the greatest 


General Alexis 


51 


commanders in Europe for her service and 
the services of her friends to his soldiers 
and his country. 

But there was another personal side to 
the situation which the Russian hospital 
staff appeared to find more amazing. 

General Dmitri Alexis ’ was supposed 
never to speak to a woman. He was an 
old bachelor and was said to greatly despise 
the frivolities of Russian society women. 

Incredible as it may seem, there is 
gossip even inside a great fortress in time 
of war. 

But Mildred’s Russian companions had 
neither time nor opportunity to reveal 
much to her at present. As soon as it was 
possible she begged that she might be 
allowed to go to her own room. Although 
she shared it with Nona and Barbara, 
neither one of them was there at the time. 

But instead of lying down at once Mil- 
dred wrote a few lines to her mother. 
She knew that she would be greatly pleased 
by the attention that had just been paid 
her. Of course Mildred realized that the 
General’s thanks were not bestowed upon 


52 


With the Russian Army 


her as an individual, but as a representative 
of the United States, whose sympathy and 
friendliness Russia so greatly appreciated. 


CHAPTER IV 


An Encounter 

B arbara had been writing a letter 
to Dick Thornton. She was seated 
on the side of her cot bed in a tiny 
room high up in a tower, with only one small 
window overlooking the courtyard below. 

Although it was well into the twentieth 
century, this room was just such an one 
as might have concealed the hapless Amy 
Robsart In the days of Lord Leicester and 
Kenilworth Castle. But although Barbara 
had not to suffer the thought of a faithless 
lover, at the present moment she was 
feeling extremely sorry for herself. 

Russia had no charms for her as it ap- 
peared to have for Mildred Thornton and 
Nona Davis. She disliked Its bleakness, 
its barbarity and the strange, moody 
people It contained. Of course she realized 
that there was another side to Russian 
life, before the present war its society was 
( 53 ) 


54 


With the Russian Army 


one of the gayest in the world. But these 
days, when the Germans were driving the 
Russian army backward and even further 
backward behind their own frontiers, were 
days for work and silence, not social amuse- 
ments. Moreover, Barbara knew that she 
could never expect to have any part in 
Russian social life when her mission lay 
among the wounded. So far she had met 
only other Red Cross nurses, a few physi- 
cians and the soldiers who required her 
care. But really Barbara was not so foolish 
as to resent these conditions; she was 
merely homesick and anxious to see Dick 
Thornton, and if not Dick, then Eugenia. 

France had not seemed so far away from 
the United States and she had loved France 
and its brave, gay people. She had under- 
stood them and their life. Almost she had 
envied Eugenia her future possession of 
the old chateau and the little ‘‘Farmhouse 
with the Blue Front Door.*’ But then 
Eugenia had seemed to find France as 
strange and uncongenial as Barbara now 
considered Russia. 

Even after her marriage to Captain 


An Encounter 


55 


Castaigne, Eugenia had confessed to the 
younger girl how she dreaded her own in- 
ability to become a Frenchwoman. She 
still feared that she would never be equal 
to the things Captain Castaigne had a 
right to expect of her, once the war was 
over. Eugenia had merely cared too much 
to be willing to give him up, but was too 
wise to expect that her problems would 
end with marriage. 

So with this thought Barbara Meade 
finally removed a tear from the end of her 
nose. It had trickled quite comfortably 
out of her eyes, but as her nose was some- 
what retrousse, it had hesitated there. 

After all, an American marriage was 
best for an American girl! Barbara tried 
to convince herself that she should be 
rejoicing instead of lamenting. Certainly 
Dick was the most agreeable and to be 
desired person in the entire world. But 
then there was another side to this 1 
Had he not been, perhaps she would not 
at this moment be missing him so terribly 
and at all the moments. Letters were so 
infrequent! Mrs. Thornton might posi- 


56 


With the Russian Army 


tively refuse to allow her son to marry so 
insignificant a person, and Dick forget all 
about her! 

But in the midst of this last and most 
harrowing thought, fortunately Nona Davis 
came into the room. 

She looked excited, but on catching 
sight of her friend’s face her expression 
changed. 

‘‘Good heavens, Barbara!” she began. 
Then the next moment she walked over 
and tilted the other girl’s chin with her 
hand. 

“You are just homesick, aren’t you, and 
longing for some one who shall be nameless ? 
You frightened me at first; I feared you 
had heard dreadful news. Come, get 
your coat and have a walk with me. We 
have both nearly two hours of freedom 
and I’ve permission to go outside the 
fortifications.” 

The other girl shook her head and 
shivered. 

“It is too cold, Nona dear, and besides. 
I’m afraid. I know the Russians are said 
to be holding the line of fortifications 


An Encounter 


57 


beyond us, but then the Germans may 
break through at any time. Goodness 
knows, I don’t see what you and Mildred 
find so fascinating in Russia! I am afraid 
I am not brave enough to have come with 
you.” 

While Barbara was arguing Nona had 
taken her coat from its hook on the wall 
and was putting it about her friend. 

‘‘Yes, I know all that, but just the same 
you are coming for a walk. As long as 
you are here you must keep strong enough 
to do your work. But there, I can’t scold 
half so well as Eugenia. I suppose if 
Dick belonged to me I should be as wretched 
as you are without him. You are a dear 
to have stuck by Mildred and me during 
this Russian work. But do come, I’ve 
something really interesting to tell you. 
Perhaps you may feel a tiny bit less lonely 
afterwards.” 

In the meantime Nona had put on her 
own coat and cap and the two girls started. 
They had to walk down a narrow stone 
corridor and then a long flight of winding 
stone steps to reach the courtyard below. 


58 


With the Russian Army 


To the right the soldiers were drilling. 
One could hear the harsh clatter of their 
heavy boots and the crash of their rifles 
when they touched the frozen earth. 

It had turned unexpectedly cold, and 
yet without a spoken word both girls 
stopped and stared about them as soon 
as they reached the outdoors. 

Certainly the scene formed an extraor- 
dinary setting for two young American 
girls ! 

The sky was gray, and although it was 
only early autumn, there were occasional 
flurries of snow. 

Behind them stood a long, low line of 
stone and iron fortifications with enormous 
guns mounted at intervals along the walls. 
At one end was an observation tower, 
where one could see miles on miles of 
trenches stretching in a kind of semicircle 
before the fortifications. Should the enemy 
destroy the trenches the Russian soldiers 
could then mass behind the fort and after- 
wards, if necessary, accomplish their re- 
treat. For a small force could delay the 
enemy through the strength of their posi- 
tion and the use of their big guns. 


An Encounter 


59 


Sheltered behind breastworks of earth, 
barbed wire entanglements and a natural 
protection of trees, the girls could barely 
discern the aerodrome. In this place 
were situated the machine shops for build- 
ing and repairing aeroplanes, and also 
from here their flights and returns could be 
made. 

Yet in spite of these signs of active war- 
fare, the place was curiously silent. Bar- 
bara felt puzzled. Only the endless tramp, 
tramp of the soldiers at drill and an oc- 
casional guttural command. The noises 
from the inside of the fort never pene- 
trated to the outside. But then these 
Russians were a quiet people. 

Within a few moments the two girls 
showed their order to the sentry and were 
allowed to pass beyond the gate. They 
then started on their walk along the same 
road which Nona had traveled alone several 
days before. But actually this was the 
first chance the girls had for talking over 
Nona’s experiences together. True, they 
shared the same bedroom, so that on her 
return Nona had given a brief report. 


60 


With the Russian Army 


But really they had been too tired at night 
to grasp the situation. 

Now naturally Barbara thought her com- 
panion meant to talk of her recent ex- 
perience. Neither one of them attempted 
conversation at the beginning of their 
walk, for the main road was as filled with 
supplies of every kind that were being 
hauled to the great fort, as it had been 
on the day of Nona’s solitary excursion. 
But indeed this was a daily occurrence. 

So, as soon as possible, the girls got 
away from the road into a lane that was 
lined with peasants’ huts. This lay in an 
opposite direction from the path Nona 
had previously taken. She had no desire 
to meet her former acquaintance again 
until she had made up her mind as to her 
own attitude toward her. 

Neither Barbara nor Mildred had so far 
been able to give her any definite advice. 

Mildred really refused to consider that 
the older woman could have known Nona’s 
mother years before in their own country. 
Her story was too incredible to be believed. 

Barbara had not taken this same point 


An Encounter 


61 


of view. At the present moment she was 
going over the situation in retrospection. 
In the first place, it was absurd to think 
that any train of circumstances could be 
impossible in such a surprising world. 
The woman, whom they had once known as 
Lady Dorian and whom they now were 
to think of by another name, had evidently 
once been a woman of wealth and culture, 
no matter what her present condition of 
poverty. She seemed to have traveled 
everywhere and she may of course have 
met Nona Davis’ family. There was 
actually no reason why she should not 
have known them, Barbara concluded in 
her sensible western fashion. Doubtless 
when Nona allowed the older woman to 
explain the situation it would not be half 
so mysterious as it now appeared. The 
really remarkable thing was, not that the 
other woman should be familiar with Nona’s 
mother’s history, but that her own daughter 
should be so in ignorance. 

For her part she intended to advise 
Nona to listen to whatever their former 
friend wished to tell her. But just as Bar- 


62 


With the Russian Army 


bara opened her lips to offer this advice, 
her companion spoke. 

“Barbara, you have been in such a 
study you haven’t asked for the piece of 
news I have to give you. Do you remem- 
ber almost quarreling with me because I 
did not wish to write a note to the English 
fellow we once knew when we were in 
Brussels, after you discovered him in prison 
there?” 

Barbara nodded, her mind immediately 
distracted from her former train of thought. 

“Lieutenant Hume? Why, do you know 
what has become of him?” she inquired. 

In reply Nona took a letter out of her 
pocket. 

“I had a note from him today. You see, 
after your lecture I continued WTiting him 
in prison every now and then during the 
year we spent in Belgium. Just occasion- 
ally he was allowed to send me a few lines 
in reply. Then a long time passed and I 
had almost forgotten him. Now he writes to 
say that by an extraordinary freak of 
fortune he has been returned home. It 
seems that he became very ill, so when the 


An Encounter 


63 


Germans decided to agree on an exchange 
of prisoners, he and our little blind French- 
man, Monsieur Bebe, were both sent back 
to their own lands. Lieutenant Hume does 
not say what is the matter with him. His 
letter isn’t about himself. He is really 
tremendously anxious to hear news of us. 
He has just learned of Eugenia’s marriage to 
Henri Castaigne, and he thinks we are pretty 
foolhardy to have offered our services for 
nursing in Russia.” 

Instinctively Barbara held her compan- 
ion’s arm in a closer grasp. 

F ar be it from me to disagree with him ! ” 
she murmured. 

For her attention had just been arrested 
by the noise of a horse’s hoofs approaching. 
Both girls looked up to see a young Cossack 
soldier riding toward them. He sat his 
horse as though he were a part of it, his feet 
swinging in long stirrups and his hands 
barely touching the reins. 

Both girls felt a stirring sense of admi- 
ration. But to their surprise, as the horse 
drew near the young soldier pulled up and 
slid quietly to the ground. 


64 


With the Russian Army 


The next instant he came up toward 
Nona. 

‘‘You will pardon me,” he said, speak- 
ing English, although with a noticeable 
accent, “but it will not be wise for you to 
continue to walk any further along this 
road. It is growing late and there are 
stragglers coming in from several villages 
where a German raid is feared.” 

He had taken off his pointed Cossack cap 
of lamb’s wool and held it in his hand as 
though he had been a young American 
meeting a group of friends upon an ordinary 
thoroughfare. 

Barbara was struck by the incongruity of 
his appearance and his behavior. He 
looked like a half-civilized warrior of cen- 
turies ago, and yet his manner was the 
conventional one of today. However, it 
would not be wise to expect him to remain 
conventional under unusual conditions. 
Barbara could see that the young Russian 
officer was a son of the east, not the west. 
He had a peculiar Oriental pallor and long, 
slanting dark eyes, and his small black 
moustache scarcely concealed the thin red 
lines of his lips. 


An Encounter 


65 


Nona was frowning at him in a puzzled 
fashion. 

But the next instant she bowed with an 
expression of recognition. 

‘‘Thank you, we will do as you suggest. 
It is odd to see you so soon again after our 
unexpected meeting the other afternoon. 
Lieutenant Orlaff, this is my friend, Miss 
Meade.” 

Barbara inclined her head, too surprised 
to do more. But as the Russian officer 
continued to walk beside them with his 
horse following, she soon understood where 
he and^Nona had met each other. 

“Yes, she is an old friend, Sonya Valesky. 
I knew her years ago and then she went 
away into other countries.” 

The young Russian hesitated. Barbara 
and Nona were both watching his face 
closely, so that they could see the cloud of 
doubt, even of struggle, that swept over it. 

“You are strangers in my country, but 
you have come here to help us in our need,” 
he protested, almost as if he were thinking 
aloud. 

“ I would not have you doubt my friend.. 


0 


66 


With the Russian Army 


I cannot explain to you, and yet I wish to 
warn you. Do not be too intimate with 
Sonya Vales ky. Russia is not like other 
countries in times of war or peace. She has 
many problems, tragedies of her own to 
overcome which the foreigner cannot under- 
stand. Forgive me if I should not have 
spoken.” 

Then before either girl could fully grasp 
what the young man’s confused speech 
could mean, he had bowed, mounted his 
horse and ridden off. 


CHAPTER V 


Out of the Past 

B ut circumstances afterwards made it 
impossible for Nona Davis to follow 
the young Russian officer’s advice. 

A week went by at the hospital without 
a decision on the girl’s part and without 
another word from her former friend. Sonya 
Valesky she must remember was her Rus- 
sian name. A beautiful name and some- 
how' it seemed to fit the personality of the 
woman whom Nona at once admired and 
distrusted. For the name carried with it 
its own suggestion of beauty and of melan- 
choly. What secret could Sonya Valesky 
be concealing that forced even her friends 
to warn others against her.^ 

Of course there could be no answer in her 
own consciousness to this puzzle, yet Nona 
kept the problem at the back of her mind 
during the following week of strenuous 
work. Nursing inside the bleak fortress at 

( 67 ) 


68 


With the Russian Army 


Grovno was of a more difficult character 
than any work the three American Red 
Cross girls had yet undertaken. The sur- 
roundings yvere so uncomfortable, the nurs- 
ing supplies so limited. Worse than any- 
thing else, an atmosphere of almost tragic 
suspense hung like a palpable cloud over 
every inmate of the fort. 

Authentic news was difficult to obtain, 
yet refugees were constantly pouring in 
with stories of fresh German conquests in 
Poland. For it chanced that the months 
after the arrival of the three American girls 
in Russia were among the darkest in Rus- 
sia’s history during the great war. Military 
strategists might be able to understand 
why the Grand Duke Nicholas and his army 
were giving way before almost every furi- 
ous German onslaught. They could ex- 
plain that he was endeavoring to lead the 
enemy deeper and deeper into a foreign land, 
so as to cut them off from their base of 
supplies. Yet it was hard for the ordinary 
man and woman or the common soldier to 
conceive of anything except fresh danger 
and disaster in each defeat. 


Out of the Past 


69 


So day after day, night after night the 
business of strengthening the line of forti- 
fications at Grovno went on. The work 
was done with the silence and the industry 
of some enormous horde of ants. 

Shut off in the left wing of the fort with 
the ill and wounded soldiers, the Red Cross 
nurses had only occasional glimpses of the 
Vi^arlike preparations that were being made. 
Once when there was a review of the troops 
in the courtyard behind the fortifications 
Mildred Thornton summoned Nona and 
Barbara. She had already told them of 
her experience with the commanding officer 
of the fort, but she wished the other two 
girls to have a look at him. It was difficult 
to get a vivid impression of a personality 
from a bird’s-eye view out of a small upper 
window. Yet the figure of General Alexis 
could never be anything but dominating. 
There was a hush of admiration from every 
man or woman inside the fortifications 
whenever their leader’s name was men- 
tioned. If he could not hold the German 
avalanche in check, then the world must 
weep for Russia. So Mildred became a 


70 


With the Russian Army 


kind of heroine among the nurses because 
she had received a few moments of the 
great man’s praise and attention. 

^ Finally, at the end of a week Nona Davis 
had a second letter from Sonya Valesky. 
It was sent by a messenger, as the other 
had been, and Nona was presented with it 
when she first went on duty on one Satur- 
day morning. 

This communication was not merely a 
note, however, for the envelope was sealed 
and had a bulky appearance. Yet Nona 
did not open it all that day or the morning 
of the next as she had a premonition that 
the letter was not an ordinary one. Either 
Madame Valesky was confiding her own 
history, or she was insisting upon proving 
to the American girl that she had at one 
time been a friend of her mother’s. Really, 
it was this information that Nona both 
expected and feared. So as she had a par- 
ticularly difficult case on hand she decided 
to wait for more leisure before trying to 
solve the mystery. 

The opportunity came when she was 
allowed two hours rest on Sunday after- 
noon. 


Out of the Past 


71 


Nona was glad that both Mildred and 
Barbara were busy at the time, because 
she preferred to be alone. After her letter 
had been read and considered then she 
could decide on the degree of her con- 
fidences. 

But after all, Barbara’s prediction came 
true. The story that Sonya Valesky had to 
tell of her acquaintance with Nona’s mother 
was not half so strange as the fact that 
the mother’s history had been concealed 
from her daughter. 

The story was unique but comparatively 
simple. The only curious fact was the 
accidental meeting between the Russian 
woman and the American girl. But then 
just such comings together of persons with 
a common bond of interest or aifection 
is an hourly occurrence in the world. 
Behind such apparent accidents is some 
law of nature, a like calling unto like. 

The older woman explained that she had 
known Nona’s mother many years ago 
when they were both children in Russia, 
although she was a number of years younger. 
There was as little as possible of Sonya 


72 


With the Russian Army 


Valesky’s own history in the letter. She 
stated without proof or comment that her 
father had once been Russian Ambassador 
to the United States. Here Anna Orlaff, 
Nona’s mother, had made her a visit and 
had then gone away south to New Orleans 
and soon afterwards married. For many 
years the younger girl had not seen her 
friend again. She had received letters 
from her, however, and learned that her 
marriage was not a success. 

Sonya Valesky did her best to explain 
the situation to Nona. But how was she 
to know how much or how little an Ameri- 
can girl understands of life and conditions 
in Russia.^ Was Nona aware that there 
were many girls and young men, often- 
times members of noble families, who be- 
lieved in a new and different Russia ^ 

Had Nona ever read of a great writer 
named Tolstoi, who wrote^^and preached of 
the real brotherhood of man? He insisted 
that the words of Christ should be inter- 
preted literally and desired that Russia, 
and indeed the world, should have no rich 
and poor, no Czar and slave, but that all 


Out of the Past 


73 


men and all women were to be truly equal. 
Nona’s mother had been a follower of 
Tolstoi’s principles; therefore, her people 
had sent her away from her own country 
because they feared if she continued to live 
in Russia with these ideas she might be 
condemned to Siberia. So Anna Orlaff had 
gladly left her own country, believing that 
in the United States she would find the 
spirit of true equality. 

Naturally her marriage had been a dis- 
appointment. At this point in Sonya 
Valesky’s letter, Nona Davis began to 
have a faint appreciation of the situation. 
She remembered the narrow, conservative 
life of the old south and that her father 
had lived largely upon traditions of wealth 
and family, teaching her little else. What 
did it matter to him that there were no 
titles in America, no more slaves to do his 
bidding, when he continued to believe in 
the domination of one class over another. 

Dimly at first, more vividly afterwards, 
Nona Davis could see the picture of the 
young Russian girl, a socialist and dreamer, 
married into such an environment. How 


74 


With the Russian Army 


disappointed and unhappy she must have 
been in the conservative old city of Charles- 
ton, South Carolina! No wonder people 
had never mentioned her name to her 
daughter, and that her father had been so 
silent! A Russian socialist was little less 
than a criminal. 

Nona was seated in a hard wooden chair 
in a small, cell-like room many thousands 
of miles away from her own old home. 
Certainly something stronger than her own 
wish must have drawn her to Russia, for 
here she must learn to understand the 
story of her mother’s life and to find her 
own place in it. 

At this point in the narrative Nona let 
her letter fall idly in her lap. The girl’s 
hands were clasped tightly together, for 
now her imagination could tell her more 
than any words of another’s. 

Her father had been devoted to her, but 
he had not been fair, neither had his 
friends nor her own. Why had they always 
led her to believe by their silences that 
there was something to be ashamed of in 
her mother’s story It was odd, of course. 


Out of the Past 


75 


to be different from other people, but there 
was no sin in being a dreamer. 

Nona could see the picture of her mother 
in the white muslin dress and the blue 
sash there in their old drawing room in 
Charleston. She had been only a girl of 
about her age when she remembered her. 

But then what had become of her mother? 
Why had she gone away? 

Again the girl picked up her letter, for 
the last few sheets must explain. 

This portion was hardest of the story to 
understand, but Sonya Valesky had tried 
to make it clear. 

Nona’s father had insisted that his young 
wife give up her views of life. She was to 
read no books, write no letters, have 
nothing to do with any human being who 
thought as she did. Above all, she was to 
make him a written and sacred promise 
that she would never reveal her ideas of 
life to her daughter. This Nona’s mother 
had refused to do and so had gone away, 
expecting to come back some day when 
her husband relented. 

Within a year she had died. But here 


76 


With the Russian Army 


Sonya Valesky’s letter ended, for she en- 
closed another written by Nona’s mother 
to her friend. 

If Nona had needed proof of the truth 
of the other woman’s statement she could 
find it here. The letter was yellow with 
age and very short. It merely asked that 
if Sonya Valesky should ever find it possible 
to know her daughter, Nona Davis, would 
she be her friend.^ 

Then Sonya had also enclosed another 
proof, if proof were needed. This was a 
small picture of Nona’s mother which was 
exactly like the one the girl had found 
concealed in the back of her father’s watch. 
It was the same watch with the same 
picture that she now wore always inside 
her dress. 

Then for nearly an hour the young 
American girl sat dreaming almost without 
a movement of her body. 

Little by little she recalled stray memories 
in her life which made her mother’s history 
appear not so impossible as she had at 
first conceived. Always she had thought 
of her as foreign. She had only believed 


Out of the Past 


77 


her to be French because she spoke French 
so perfectly and had married in New 
Orleans. But then she herself was begin- 
ning to learn that educated Russians are 
among the most accomplished linguists in 
the world. What else was she to find out 
about this strange country before her 
work as a nurse was over? Could she 
ever feel so entirely an American again? 

All at once Nona Davis jumped hastily 
to her feet. There were hundreds of 
questions she yearned to ask. Fortunately 
for her she was near the one person who 
might be able to answer them. Sonya 
Valesky had never said why she had not 
sought to find her friend’s daughter until 
their accidental meeting on shipboard. 
Even then she had not recognized Nona’s 
connection with the past. Was it because 
she was too engrossed in her own life and 
her own mysterious mission? 

Although she was at this instant engaged 
in putting on her coat and cap to go to her, 
Nona again hesitated. How little the 
Russian woman had said of herself! What 
was she doing here near the Russian line 


78 


With the Russian Army 


of fortifications, living like a peasant with 
only two old peasants in attendance upon 
her? And why should the young Russian 
officer have warned her against his own 
friend ? 

‘‘Michael Orlaff.” Automatically Nona 
Davis repeated the name of her new ac- 
quaintance. “Orlaff.” The name was 
the same as her mother’s. Was there a 
chance that the young Russian lieutenant 
might be a possible connection.^ 

However, the girl recognized that she 
was stupid to continue to ask herself 
questions. Moreover, she had now made 
up her mind that she must not distrust 
Sonya Valesky unless she had a more 
definite cause. Doubtless Sonya shared 
the same views of life that her mother had 
cherished! But in any case it was wonder- 
ful to have found a woman who had been 
her mother’s friend and who might still be 
hers. 

Nona had walked across her small room 
to the door, when she heard some one 
knocking. 

A summons had been sent for her to 


Out of the Past 


79 


return to her nursing, as the two hours 
of her recreation were over. How stupid 
she had been! Actually Nona had for- 
gotten what had called her to Russia, 
even the war tragedy that was raging 
about her. Of course she could not leave 
the hospital! It might be several days 
or more before she could hope to receive 
permission to revisit Sonya. 


CHAPTER VI 


The Arrest 

F ive days later Nona Davis went 
again to the little wooden house, 
where, to her surprise, she had pre- 
viously discovered a former acquaintance. 

But on this occasion Sonya Valesky 
did not open the door. 

Instead it was opened by the old peasant 
man whom Nona had seen before. 

Today he looked more wretched than 
stupid. His little black eyes were red 
rimmed, his sallow skin more wrinkled 
than ever. 

When Nona inquired for Sonya he shook 
his head disconsolately and then motioned 
her toward the same room she had formerly 
entered. 

There was now a cot in the room and on 
this cot lay the Russian woman. 

At once Nona forgot herself and her 
desire to ask questions. She remembered 
( 80 ) 


The Arrest 


81 


only her profession, yes, and one other 
thing. She recalled the words that the 
old French peasant, Francois, had once 
spoken to her and to Barbara. 

‘^Have you pity only for wounded sol- 
diers.^ Do girls and women never care 
to help one another? This war has made 
wounds deeper than any bullets can create.” 

Immediately Nona had seen that Sonya 
Valesky was very ill. Now, no matter 
who she was, or what she had done, she 
must be restored to health. First and last 
Nona must put her own emotions aside, 
for the sake of her mission as a Red Cross 
nurse. 

Yet what was she to do? Her services 
belonged to the soldiers in the Russian 
fortress. 

As quietly and quickly as possible Nona 
gave her orders. 

She could not be sure, but Sonya’s 
appearance indicated that she was suifer- 
ing from the terrible scourge of typhus. 

This disease had been one of the most 
terrible results of the war. Because of a 
greater lack of sanitation and cleanliness 


82 


With the Russian Army 


the fever had been more widespread in 
Servia and in Russia than In any other 
countries. 

Personally Nona had never nursed a 
case before, yet she had heard the disease 
discussed and believed she recognized the 
symptoms. 

First she made a thorough examination 
of the little house. It was cleaner than 
most of the peasants^ huts, so far Sonya 
must have prevailed, but still its conditions 
left much to be desired. 

Without being able to speak more than 
a few words of their language, Nona yet 
managed to give her directions. 

She was beginning to guess that the old 
peasant couple, who at first had seemed 
mysterious companions for the beautiful 
Russian woman, were probably old ser- 
vants. If Sonya was a follower of Tolstoi 
as her mother had been, she must have 
refused to recognize any difference between 
them. 

But this was not their feeling. The Amer- 
ican girl could see that in spirit old Katja 
and Nika were the devoted slaves of the 
younger woman. 


The Arrest 


83 


Sonya was not at first conscious of the 
seriousness of her illness. 

She wore a dressing gown of some^rough 
homespun, a curious shade of Russian blue, 
the color of her own eyes. Her hair, which 
had turned far whiter in the past year, was 
partly concealed under a small lace cap such 
as the Russian peasant woman often wears. 
Then, although she did not seem able to 
talk, she knew Nona and thanked her for 
coming and for the advice she was giving 
the two old people. 

But when Nona had finished with her 
orders she came and sat down near Sonya. 

‘H have read your letter and I have not 
been able "to answer it until now. It seems 
like a miracle that I should have found out 
about my own mother here in a strange 
land. But perhaps I was meant to take 
care of you. You must promise to do what 
I tell you. I must go away now, but I’ll 
come back in a little while.” 

Nona was getting up when Sonya took 
hold of her skirt. 

Her face was flushed and her dark blue 
eyes shining. 


84 


With the Russian Army 


‘‘You must not stay in this house, not 
for long at a time,” she pleaded. “I can- 
not explain to you why not, but perhaps 
when I am strong again I can tell you 
enough to have you guess the rest. Now 
you must go.” 

Sonya took Nona’s cool hands in her hot 
ones and held them close for a moment. 

The next moment the American girl had 
gone. 

At the hospital inside the fortress she 
explained the situation, at least so far as 
it could be explained. A Russian woman, 
who had once been her friend, lay seriously 
ill at one of the nearby huts. Would one 
of the hospital physicians come and see her? 
Also would it be possible for her to be 
spared from caring for the soldiers to look 
after her woman friend ? 

Certainly a Russian doctor would attend 
the case; moreover, after certain formali- 
ties Nona was allowed a leave of absence 
from the hospital demands. 

Then began an experience for the young 
American girl that nothing in her past two 
or more years of nursing had equaled. 


The Arrest 


85 


She was living and working in a new 
world, amid surroundings which she could 
not understand and of which she was 
afraid. I 

The little hut was crude and lonely. The 
two old peasants could speak no English, 
but went about their tasks day after day 
mute and dolorous. Sonya was too ill to 
recognize her nurse, and Nona could not 
allow Barbara or Mildred to come near her, 
since her patient’s illness was of the most 
contagious nature. 

Naturally Barbara and Mildred wholly 
disapproved of the risk Nona was running 
and she had not time nor strength to make 
them see her side of the situation. She 
had written them that Sonya Valesky had 
proved herself to have been an old friend 
of her mother’s. For that reason and for 
several others she felt it her duty to care 
for her. 

But strangest of all Nona’s experiences 
were the fragments of conversation which 
she heard from the lips of her ill friend. 

Sonya sometimes spoke of her girlhood 
and then again of her life in the United 


86 


With the Russian Army 


States and in England. Once or twice she 
even called the name of Captain Dalton. 
Nona supposed that she must be recalling 
^her meeting with Captain Dalton at the 
Sacred Heart Hospital. Then she re- 
membered that Sonya had spoken of know- 
ing the English officer years before. 

But although her patient betrayed many 
facts of her past life to her nurse, never once 
did Sonya explain why she was living in 
such an out-of-the-way place. Neither did 
she give any clue to the kind of work that 
must have engaged her time and energy. 
Surely Sonya Valesky must have been upon 
some secret mission in the days of their 
first meeting on board the ‘‘Philadelphia!” 
Even then she had papers in her possession 
which she would allow no one to see. 

However, Sonya was too desperately ill 
to permit her nurse much opportunity for 
surmising. Nona would never have left 
her alone for a moment except that she 
knew it was her duty to keep up her own 
strength. 

Every afternoon she went for a short 
walk. And because no one but the Russian 


The Arrest 


87 


physician was allowed to enter the house, 
now and then the young Russian lieutenant 
would join Nona along the road. This 
could only occur when he was able to get 
leave, yet Nona began to hope for his com- 
ing. She was so depressed and lonely. 

Once she asked him if he had ever heard 
of a member of his family named “Anna 
Orlaff.” Of course she gave no reason for 
her question. But it made no diiference, 
because the young soldier could recall no 
such person. 

In the course of one of their talks, how- 
ever, he confided to Nona that he was a 
younger brother, but that his family were 
members of the Russian nobility. 

Never once, however, did the young man 
betray any fact connected with Sonya Va- 
lesky’s history. He explained that their 
families had long known each other and 
that he had always been fond of her, 
nothing more. 

So for this reason as well as others Nona 
found herself attracted by the young Rus- 
sian officer. He seemed very simple, much 
younger than an American of the same age. 


88 


With the Russian Army 


At this time Michael Orlaff must have been 
about twenty-three. But Nona was wise 
enough to discover that he was not so 
simple and direct as she had first believed 
him. A Russian does not readily betray 
either his deeper thoughts or his deeper 
feelings. The young Russian lieutenant 
would not even speak of the war nor his 
own part in it. Yet Nona guessed from 
her own observation and from certain un- 
conscious information that he was one of 
the favorite younger officers of the Russian 
general in command of the Grovno forti- 
fications. 

So a number of weeks passed, until now 
and then Nona Davis almost forgot the war 
and her original reasons for being in her 
present strange position. No one brought 
her papers; Barbara’s and Mildred’s letters 
contained little war news. The truth was 
possibly being concealed from them, or else 
there was no way of their discovering it. 

So Nona was at least spared the anxiety 
of knowing that the victorious German 
hosts were drawing nearer and nearer the 
fortress of Grovno. Like stone houses 


The Arrest 


89 


built by children the other ancient Russian 
forts had fallen before his ‘^Excellenz von 
Beseler,” the victor of Antwerp, who was 
known as the German battering ram. 

Even when Sonya opened her eyes, after 
weeks of an almost fatal illness, and asked 
for news of the war, Nona was unable to 
tell her. 

Then as the days of Sonya’s convalescence 
went by she would not let her talk of it. 
Always war is a more terrible thing to girls 
and women than it is to boys and men. 
But ever since their first acquaintance Nona 
had realized that the horror of it went 
deeper into Sonya’s consciousness than any 
person she had yet seen. It must be the 
war that had aged her so in the past year. 

So the Russian woman and the American 
girl spoke of everything else. Sonya told 
of her own life and of Nona’s mother when 
they were little girls. They had both been 
allowed to go away to college. It was in 
school that they imbibed their revolution- 
ary ideas. No wonder that their families 
never forgave them ! 

Sonya was dressed and sitting in her chair 


90 


With the Russian Army 


the day when the summons finally came 
for her arrest. 

It was Nona Davis in her nurse’s Red 
Cross costume who opened the door for the 
two men in uniform. They were not 
dressed like soldiers, and as she could not 
understand what they said, she did not 
dream of their errand. 

But Sonya’s peasant servants must have 
understood, for at the sight of the strangers 
they dropped on their knees and held out 
Imploring hands. 

Sonya herself finally made things clear. 
The men were two police officers who had 
been sent to bring her to Petrograd. She 
had been in hiding here near Grovno for 
several months and had hoped to escape 
their vigilance. Evidently Sonya had been 
arrested by the Russian authorities. 

In spite of Nona’s insistence that her 
patient was not well enough to be moved, 
Sonya agreed to go with them at once. 

And only at the moment of parting did 
she bestow any confidenc^jupon the younger 
girl. 

Then she looked deep into Nona’s golden 


The Arrest 


91 


brown eyes with her own strangely glowing 
blue ones, and whispered: 

‘‘I have done nothing of which I am 
ashamed, Nona, or I should never have 
asked for your friendship. It may be that 
I can make the Russian people understand, 
but I do not feel sure. This war has made 
men blinder than ever. I have only tried 
to be a follower of the ‘Prince of Peace.’” 

Then after she had walked away a few 
steps she came back again. 

“Go back to your United States as soon 
as you can, Nona,” she urged. “Russia is 
no place for you or your friends.” 

Because Nona Davis dared not trust 
herself to speak, Sonya afterwards went 
away without a word of faith or farewell 
from her. 


CHAPTER VII 


A Russian Church 

O NE afternoon, after Nona had been 
nursing her friend, Sonya Valesky, 
for some time, Mildred Thornton 
went alone into a little Russian church. 

The church was situated behind the line 
of the fortifications at Grovno. Many 
years before it had been erected, and now 
it did not occur to the Russian officers that 
it stood in especial peril. Yet the church 
had the golden dome of all Russian churches, 
glittering like a ball of fire in the sun. Cer- 
tainly it afforded an easy target for the 
enemy’s guns, and more than this would 
aid German aeroplanists in making obser- 
vations of the geography of the surrounding 
neighborhood. But since Grovno was 
deemed invincible, apparently no one con- 
sidered the possibility of the other side to 
this question. 

High cement walls guarded and mounted 

( 92 ) 


A Russian Church 


93 


with cannon encircled the countryside for 
many miles, while running out from the 
fortress itself were numerous secret passages 
and cells, at present stored with ammuni- 
tion. 

On this afternoon of Mildred’s visit to 
the church she stood outside for a few 
moments looking upward. At first she was 
merely admiring the beauty of the little 
church. The gold of the dome seemed to 
be the one appealing spot of color in all the 
surrounding landscape. Then she opened 
the bronze doors and stole quietly inside. 

Always the church was left open for 
prayer, but today on entering Mildred 
Thornton found it empty. 

A Russian church is unlike all others 
except the Greek, for it is filled with bril- 
liant colors. Instead of images such as the 
Roman Catholics use, the Russians have 
paintings dealing with the life of Christ, 
almost obscuring the ceiling and the walls. 
There are no pews such as we find in our 
own churches, for the Russian remains 
standing during his ceremony and kneels 
upon the stone floor in time of prayer. So 


94 


With the Russian Army 


one finds only a few chairs scattered about 
for old persons and ill ones. 

Mildred secured a stool and sat down in 
the shadow, gazing up toward the high 
altar. 

She was an Episcopalian, therefore the 
Russian church and its services did not seem 
so unusual to her as they did to Barbara 
Meade. Really she had been deeply im- 
pressed by the few services she had seen. 
There was no organ and no music save the 
intoning of the voices of the priests, and 
the words of the service she could not 
understand. Nevertheless the Russians 
were a deeply religious people and perhaps 
their reverence had influenced the American 
girl. 

This afternoon, although alone, Mildred 
felt strangely at peace. Indeed, her eyes 
were cast down and her hands clasped in 
prayer, when the noise of some one else 
entering the church disturbed her reverie. 

To the girl’s surprise the figure was that 
of a man whom the next instant she recog- 
nized as General Alexis. He had come into 
the church without a member of his staff. 


A Russian Church 


95 


so that evidently he too desired to be 
alone for prayer. 

What should she do? Mildred was too 
confused to decide immediately. Feeling 
herself an intruder, yet she did not wish to 
create a stir and draw attention to herself 
by hastily leaving. 

General Alexis had evidently not seen 
her, too intent upon his own devotions. 
For he had at once approached the altar 
and knelt reverently before it. 

Mildred kept silent, hardly conscious of 
her own absorption and forgetting her 
meditations in her interest in the kneeling 
soldier. 

In these days of little faith, small wonder 
that it struck Mildred as inspiring to see 
this man of many burdens and responsi- 
bilities at the foot of the altar. 

From a western window the afternoon 
sun shone down upon him, revealing the 
weary lines in the great soldier’s face. He 
did not look stern or forbidding to Mildred 
this afternoon, only deeply careworn and 
depressed. However much his soldiers 
and the Russian people might trust in his 


96 


With the Russian Army 


power to bring them safely through an 
attack at Grovno, evidently there were 
hours when the distinguished general suf- 
fered like lesser people. Mildred Thornton 
understood enough of human nature to 
realize what General Alexis must at this 
moment be enduring. The fate of a people, 
of a nation, almost of half the world, in a 
measure rested in his hands. How inade- 
quate any mortal must feel in the face of 
such a task! 

By and by Mildred’s eyes dropped their 
lids. She felt that she was seeing too 
deeply into the holy of holies of the man 
before her. This would not be just to any 
human being, unaware of her presence. If 
only she could get away without disturb- 
ing him! Doubtless on discovering her 
General Alexis would be angered, or at any 
rate annoyed, perhaps he might even con- 
sider her behavior as characteristic Amer- 
ican intrusion. 

Once Mildred started to her feet, but she 
did not try to move again, for at almost 
the same instant the Russian general rose 
from his knees. 


A Russian Church 


97 


His face had become a little less care- 
worn than at the moment of his entrance; 
his blue eyes, which were remarkable with 
his other Russian coloring, were less sombre. 
Since he did not appear to observe her, 
Mildred was glad for this last glance at her 
companion. . 

Since their one meeting for some reason 
he had haunted her thoughts more than she 
could explain. This was partly due to the 
fact that he was so much talked of at the 
fortress and so idolized by his soldiers. He 
was said to be without fear, or any human 
weakness, but after today Mildred Thorn- 
ton knew better than this. 

Unconsciously the girl must have moved 
or made a sound of some kind at this in- 
stant, for General Alexis, who had almost 
reached the door, turned quickly around. 
At the same time his right hand grasped 
his pistol. 

Was there a spy or an assassin lurking in 
his church to destroy him.^ There were 
many men of other lands who would gladly 
give their lives for his. 

But General Alexis’ hand dropped to his 


98 


With the Russian Army 


side again, as soon as it had touched the 
metal of his pistol. To his surprise he had 
discovered a pair of blue-gray eyes staring 
at him earnestly, with almost wistful 
sympathy. 

General Alexis came back to where Mil- 
dred stood. 

“You were here in church with me and 
I did not see you,” he said as simply and 
naturally as an ordinary person, “I hope I 
did not disturb you.” 

Disturb me!^^ Mildred stuttered a little 
in her surprise at his words. “Oh, I beg 
your pardon, it was I who should not have 
been here when you came. But I did not 
know, that is I did not dream you ever left 
the fort, while I like to steal in here during 
the hours I have for rest. I will not come 
again.” 

General Alexis shook his head. “I 
should be very sorry. Rather than that 
this should happen I would stay away dur- 
ing those hours. But is there not room 
enough here and peace enough for us both?” 

Without replying Mildred inclined her 
head and began walking toward the door, 
General Alexis keeping beside her. 


A Russian Church 


99 


“If you are returning to the fortress and 
will permit me, I should like to go back with 
you?” he asked. 

And again Mildred could only stammer 
a confused acquiescence. 

In the little court before the Russian 
church General Alexis’ guard of soldiers 
was awaiting him. However, at an inclina- 
tion of his head they fell in at once, march- 
ing at a respectful distance behind their 
general and his companion. 

“I remember our having a short conver- 
sation a few weeks ago,” the Russian 
officer continued gravely, after they had 
gone on a few yards. Mildred had been 
vainly endeavoring to make up her mind 
whether she should be the one to speak. 
If so, what on earth should she say? 

She was glad to be spared having to make 
up her mind. 

“You were very kind,” the girl returned. 
“I did not imagine you would know me 
again, but perhaps it is because I am an 
American.” 

Just as if he had been a young man and 
an everyday one. General Alexis smiled, 
and Mildred was no longer afraid of him. 


100 


With the Russian Army 


^‘Oh, I may remember you, Miss Thorn- 
ton, for other reasons. But to be truthful 
it is because you are an American that I 
am taking this opportunity to talk to you 
again.” 

This time the Russian officer hesitated. 

‘‘You will not mention what I am going 
to say to any persons except your two 
American friends,” he added, not as a 
request, but as a command. 

“Miss Thornton, as soon as it is possible 
for convenient arrangements to be made for 
you I want you to know that I intend hav- 
ing you sent back to Petrograd. You 
must of course have a safe escort or I should 
have seen to the matter sooner.” 

Ordinarily Mildred Thornton possessed 
unusual self-control, but the surprise, in- 
deed, the shock of the speech, took her 
unawares. 

She had not dreamed that she and Bar- 
bara and Nona had been such complete 
failures in their Red Cross work. Why, 
after their several years of war experience 
they had felt themselves of perhaps un- 
usual value in the Russian nursing. So 


A Russian Church 


101 


far as she knew there had been no com- 
plaints of their work, only praise. But 
in any case how could their failures have 
reached General Dmitri Alexis’ ears? It 
seemed incredible that he should ever be 
annoyed with such trifling concerns. 

“Just as you wish,” Mildred answered 
quietly, yet with greater personal dignity 
than any one of the other American Red 
Cross girls could have summoned. “We 
have done our best to help with the nurs- 
ing. If we have failed it is, of course, 
wisest that we should return to Petrograd. 
Afterwards we can go home to the United 
States.” 

“Failed in your nursing? And it is for 
that reason you believe I wish to have 
you sent away from my fortress?” 

Actually General Alexis stopped in his 
walk and faced his companion, since Mil- 
dred was, of course, obliged to stop also. 

“That is folly. I know nothing of your 
nursing. But from your face, from a 
something, a serenity and strength that 
your presence suggests, I feel that you 
must understand and love your profes- 
sion.” 


102 


With the Russian Army 


General Alexis was now studying Mil- 
dred Thornton with surprising intentness, 
as though he were trying in this moment 
of their acquaintance to pierce beneath 
the surface of the girl before him. This 
was characteristic of the man. No human 
being was ever too small or too unimpor- 
tant for his consideration. He was a strange 
combination: a great soldier and yet one 
of the gentlest of men. 

want you to go back to Petrograd 
because I fear for your safety and the 
safety of your friends should you remain 
much longer at Grovno,” he continued. 
^Ht is of this fact you are not to speak. 
I have reason to know that at almost any 
hour in the next few days we may expect 
the German attack. Grovno will resist 
to the uttermost. But it may be that 
the old fortifications are not so invincible 
as we once thought them to be. A new 
war has brought a new world and the 
old order changeth.” 

Once again Mildred saw beneath the 
outer surface of the man, but almost at 
once he was again the soldier. 


A Russian Church 


103 


“You understand that I do not expect 
this. If I decide it may be wiser to retreat, 
it will only be to form a conjunction with 
another part of Grand Duke Nicholas’ 
army. But in any case I should prefer 
to have you three American nurses away 
from all possible danger. The Russian 
nurses will share the fate of their own 
soldiers. Be prepared to leave within a 
few days. When the necessary arrange- 
ments are made you will receive instruc- 
tions.” 

Then before Mildred could protest, and 
she had scarcely the courage for this, they 
had reached the gate of the fortress. 

Here General Alexis bowed and waited 
for his guard to come up with him. Mil- 
dred could feel the surprise even of the 
sentries at the gate and the few soldiers 
who chanced to be near at their unexpected 
appearance. Truly it was amazing that 
the great commander should be concerned 
with the fate of three unimportant American 
girls, and even more amazing that he 
should actually show his consideration and 
friendliness to one of them! 


CHAPTER VIII 


Another Warning 

WO hours after Sonya Valesky had 



been taken away by the Russian 


police Nona Davis started back 
for the Russian fortress. 

Only a few moments were required to 
pack her own belongings, since the little 
house and everything inside it had been 
fumigated as soon as Sonya reached a 
state of convalescence. Nona’s time had 
been spent in trying to comfort Sonya’s 
servants, old Katja and Nika, and also 
in trying to acquire some information 
from them. 

In neither effort was she successful. 
Either the old man and woman knew 
nothing of Sonya’s actions, or else they 
were too grief-stricken to confide their 
knowledge. There was also the third 
possibility that Sonya had warned them 
against betraying her to any human being. 


( 104 ) 


Another Warning 


105 


Whatever the reason, they were dumb, 
except for their half-broken Russian prayers 
and stories of Sonya as a little girl. If 
she had not long ago been fully aware of 
the fact, Nona was now assured that the 
two peasants had been former servants 
of the Russian woman. It was Sonya 
who would not recognize the distinctions 
of maid and mistress, who called herself 
by no title and would allow her servants 
to call her by none. 

Therefore it was almost night when 
Nona left the little hut, old Nika carrying 
her bag and plodding behind her. The 
girl felt that she must return to her two 
American friends to receive their aid and 
sympathy. 

Surely something could be done for 
Sonya, it was horrible to think of her 
being carried off to a Russian prison, con- 
cerning which one had read such dreadful 
stories. She was too ill and she seemed so 
utterly without friends or relatives. Yet 
Nona herself was utterly powerless, know- 
ing no one with any influence in Russia. 
Nevertheless she felt a strange bond, which 


106 


With the Russian Army 


had come to her out of the past, between 
herself and Sonya Valesky. 

One person, however, might be willing 
to give her advice, though she doubted 
his help. In returning to the fort, Nona 
meant as soon as possible to request an 
interview with the young Russian officer, 
Michael Orlaff. 

She was not frightened during her walk 
through the dismal Russian country. 
Wearing her Red Cross uniform she felt 
a sufficient protection, besides old Nika’s 
presence. But the real truth is she was 
too absorbed in considering Sonya’s his- 
tory and fate to be aware of anything 
else. 

She was therefore more annoyed than 
frightened when a figure appeared before 
her at the crossing of the road by the 
Three Pines. The voice that straightway 
called out to them held a quality of com- 
mand that made Nika drop at once on 
his knees. Nona was not in the least 
frightened, but then she had seen the out- 
line of the young officer’s figure and the 
glistening of his sword hilt. 


Another Warning 


107 


‘‘I am Nona Davis, an American Red 
Cross nurse on my way back to the fortress, 
Lieutenant Orlalf,’’ the girl explained. ‘‘I 
am glad to have met you, as^perhaps you 
will tell me what I must do when I reach 
the gate.’^ 

The Russian officer saluted as though 
Nona had been a superior officer. 

‘‘I was on my way at the present moment 
to Sonya Valesky’s home to inquire for 
her. This is the first hour of freedom I 
have been able to command all day. But 
tell me what brings you back to the fort- 
ress at this time.^ Has Sonya grown 
worse or is she better.^” 

Here was her opportunity. Nona felt 
that fate must have sent it to her by a 
special dispensation. Now there need be 
no delay in her confidence. 

Lieutenant Orlaff came of a noble 
family, he must have powerful connections, 
if he could only be persuaded to use them 
in Sonya’s behalf. Certainly he had ap- 
peared to be her friend, although disap- 
proving of her behavior and views of life. 

As sympathetically and as quickly as 


108 


With the Russian Army 


possible Nona told of the coming of the 
Russian police. Then she laid great stress 
on the fact that Sonya was too ill to have 
been taken away at such a time. Yet 
she had gone without resistance, making 
no plea for herself and asking for no aid. 
What must they do.^ The situation was 
unendurable. 

Intentionally Nona used the pronoun 
‘They,” including Lieutenant Orlaff with 
herself in their interest in Sonya. Yet 
except for his first muttered exclamation 
the Russian officer had made no comment. 

In the darkness Nona gazed at him 
resentfully. The Russians were a cruel 
people, sometimes all fire and then again 
all ice. She would like to have told him 
what an American man would have at- 
tempted for a friend, who was a woman 
and in such a tragic position, no matter 
what her crime or mistake. But Nona 
was sure by this time that Sonya Valesky 
had committed no crime. She had come 
to know her too well, her exquisite gentle- 
ness, so oddly combined with a blind 
determination that took no thought of self. 


Another Warning 


109 


Besides she recalled her friend’s final words, 
‘^a follower of the Prince of Peace.” Surely 
there were but few such followers in the 
European world today! 

Awaiting his answer, Nona continued 
to look at her companion. The young 
Russian might have stood for the figure of 
^^Mars,” the young god of war, as he 
strode along beside her. He was six feet 
in height, splendidly made, and tonight 
in the semi-darkness his face showed hard 
and unmoved. 

“I am grieved but not surprised at what 
you tell me,” he returned the next moment. 
^^Not a hundred, but a thousand times I 
have warned Sonya that she must give up 
her mad ideas. There was sufficient danger 
in them when the world was at peace. 
Now in time of war to preach that men 
are brothers, that there should be no such 
thing as patriotism, that all men are kin, 
no matter what their country, there nevei 
was such folly. It is hard to feel pity or 
patience.” 

‘‘Then you will do nothing to help?” 
Nona inquired, trying to hide the anger 


110 


With the Russian Army 


she felt. ‘‘Of course I understand that 
from your point of view and from the view 
of nearly all the world Sonya Valesky is 
hopelessly wrong. But I can’t see why she 
should be punished because she has a 
higher ideal than other people.^” 

If Nona had only thought for a moment 
she would have realized that the world 
has always thus rewarded its visionaries. 

“But Sonya is not content to think in 
this way alone. She has spent her life in 
trying to persuade other persons to her 
view, and has many followers. Once she 
was a very rich woman and traveled in 
many lands preaching her universal broth- 
erhood,” the young officer ended his speech 
with a characteristic shrug of his shoulders, 
which is the Oriental fashion of announcing 
that fate is stronger than one’s will. 

“To have continued advocating such a 
doctrine in a time of war was worse than 
madness. I have done what I could, I 
have even risked my own honor and safety 
in remaining Sonya’s friend. Now retri- 
bution has come,” he concluded, as though 
the subject was not to be resumed. 


Another Warning 


111 


And Nona did not reply at once. So 
the young Russian officer and the Ameri- 
can girl walked on toward the fortress 
through darkness that was each moment 
growing more dense. There were no lights 
save the stars, since the fortress was only 
dimly lighted in the interior; outside lights 
would too plainly have exposed their posi- 
tion to the enemy. 

‘^What then do you think will become 
of Sonya ? What punishment will she 
have to suffer?’’ Nona inquired when she 
felt that she had gotten her voice under 
control. 

^‘Siberia,” Lieutenant Orlaff returned 
briefly. Then feeling that his companion 
desired him to say more, he went on: 

“In many cases a man or woman who 
has done what Sonya Vales ky has would 
be hung as a traitor. She has been preach- 
ing peace, which means she has been urging 
men not to fight. That is treason to Russia. 
But I believe that Sonya will be lightly 
dealt with because she comes of a family 
that once served the Czar and his father. 
Besides, Sonya is a woman and a beautiful 


112 


With the Russian Army 


one and it would not do to make a martyr 
of her.” 

“Then you think Siberia a light punish- 
ment?” Nona questioned, no longer try- 
ing to keep the bitterness out of her tones. 
“Well, surely you accept a friend’s mis- 
fortune easily! I have not your philosophy. 
I do not think I can do much, as I have 
no friends in Russia and no money, but as 
soon as I receive permission I shall go to 
Petrograd to be of whatever service I can.” 

Lieutenant Orlaff stared at the girl beside 
him. It was impossible to see anything 
but the outline of her face, yet he could 
observe its pallor and the sheen of her 
hair under the nurse’s cap. Besides, he 
felt the contempt she had not allowed 
herself to express, for the Russian is singu- 
larly proud and sensitive. 

“I repeat that I am very sorry,” the 
young officer added. “You are wrong in 
thinking I take Sonya Valesky’s fate lightly. 
Her family and mine, as I once told you, 
have been friends for many years. After 
the death of her parents my father was 
for a little time her guardian until she 


Another Warning 


113 


came of age. I will do what I can; I will 
write letters to her relatives and to people 
who were once her friends. But I warn 
you to expect nothing. Long ago they 
became weary of her wild theories and have 
had nothing to do with her for years.” 

“Then all the more reason why I should 
do what I can. Even if I accomplish 
nothing, at least Sonya will have the 
comfort of knowing that a friend is near 
her during her trial,” the girl said aloud, 
although really not addressing her com- 
panion. 

During the latter part of his speech she 
had been thinking very rapidly. First 
of all, she must ask for a leave of absence 
from her Red Cross nursing and explain 
that it was necessary for her to return to 
Petrograd for a time. But where was she 
to obtain the money for her expenses ? 
She had nothing of her own except the few 
roubles which she was paid for her work 
and which she had forfeited when she 
undertook to care for Sonya Valesky. In 
all probability when Mildred Thornton 
knew her mission she could borrow the 


114 


With the Russian Army 


money from her. But then this would 
mean a delay so long that she might be 
of no service to Sonya. For Mildred 
kept only a small amount of extra money 
with her and would be compelled to write 
her father for any large sum. Weeks 
would pass before Judge Thornton could 
receive his daughter’s request and then 
there would be more time required for the 
transmission of the check. 

However, besides Mildred there was 
Eugenia who could be appealed to for aid. 
There was no doubt of Eugenia’s assist- 
ance, once she learned Sonya Valesky’s 
story and realized why she had seemed a 
suspicious character to all of them in the 
days of their meeting on board the ^‘Phila- 
delphia.” But Eugenia was away oif 
somewhere in France nursing in a Red 
Cross hospital near her husband’s line of 
trenches. It would also take time to 
reach Eugenia. Nevertheless she was the 
best person to whom to make a request. 

“But what connection have you with 
Sonya Valesky? Why should you not be 
willing to leave her to her fate?” Lieu- 


Another Warning 


115 


tenant Orlaff had to ask the second time 
before Nona heard him. ‘‘You have done 
what you could in nursing her through a 
dangerous illness; friendship could expect 
nothing more. Besides, you are an Amer- 
ican girl and can have only a slight acquaint- 
ance with Sonya.” 

Again Nona Davis did not reply immedi- 
ately. How much or how little should she 
take the Russian officer into her confidence ? 
However, it did not seem to her of much 
importance then. 

“You are mistaken. I am not simply an 
American girl,” Nona explained quietly. 
“My father was an American, but my 
mother was a Russian. She and Sonya 
Valesky knew each other as girls, although 
my mother was the older. There is a 
stronger tie between us than you imagine. 
And I have reason to believe that my 
mother once thought as Sonya does about 
many things.” 

“Your mother, impossible!” Michael Or- 
lafif exclaimed, with more consternation 
and regret in his voice than was reasonable. 
“ But you, surely you cherish no such ideas ” 


116 


With the Russian Army 


The American girl shook her head, al- 
though she seemed to be pondering over 
her companion’s question before replying. 

“No,” she returned at last. “I have no 
such ideas and I believe never will have 
them. Even though my mother was a 
Russian, I am an American in all my feel- 
ings and instincts and training. Russia 
fascinates me, but it frightens me at the 
same time. Besides, it is not necessary in 
our country that we should teach peace and 
equality, because it is in those two prin- 
ciples that the American people most be- 
lieve. If Sonya is released I mean to try 
and take her back to the United States 
with me to remain until the war is over.” 

“But Sonya will not be released, I have 
tried to make you understand,” Lieu- 
tenant Orlaff added doggedly. “What is 
one woman more or less in times like 
these? Go to Petrograd if you will. Miss 
Davis. I have told you it is not wise for 
you and your friends to remain at Grovno. 
But when you reach Petrograd have noth- 
ing to do with Sonya Valesky. I have 
known you only a short time, yet I am 


Another Warning 


117 


your friend and I warn you. Cannot you 
see that I care very much what becomes 
of you.^ You are a guest in my country; 
you have come to do us a service. It 
would be a poor return if trouble overtook 
you.” 

Nona and Lieutenant Orlaff with old 
Nika hobbling behind them had by this 
time about reached the entrance to the 
fortress. Nona was truly grateful. She 
was very tired and depressed from the day’s 
experiences. Moreover, she did not under- 
stand the manner or the words of the 
young officer beside her. At one moment 
he seemed extraordinarily hard and at the 
next unnecessarily concerned. Nothing 
could happen to her in Petrograd of a seri- 
ous character, but in any case her experi- 
ences could not interest Lieutenant Orlaff. 

As soon as possible Nona said good-by 
to him. Later, in recalling their conver- 
sation, she often thought of a phrase he 
used: “What is one woman more or less 
in times like these?” 


CHAPTER IX 


The Attack 

HERE was a great deal more for 



the three American Red Cross girls 


^ to confide to one another than 
they could find time for, soon after Nona 
Davis’ return to the fortress. 

But two evenings later it chanced that 
the three girls were all on day duty and 
therefore had the same evening and night 
free. 

In the left wing of the fortress, near 
the hospital quarters, was the single, small 
bedroom which the three American nurses 
shared. Once before Nona had discovered 
Barbara Meade rereading one of Dick 
Thornton’s letters and giving way to the 
blues in their small, cold chamber. This 
evening she made the discovery a second 
time. 

It chanced that Barbara had gotten 
away from her nursing first and hurried 


( 118 ) 


The Attack 


119 


off to the only privacy that was possible 
under the circumstances. Because she 
was looking forward to a long and serious 
conversation with her two friends she made 
ready to meet the situation as comfortably 
as possible. This means that Barbara 
slipped out of her nursing uniform and 
into the pretty kimono that Mildred had 
presented her with long ago in Paris. Then, 
while she waited for the others, she read 
Dick’s and Eugenia’s latest letters once 
again. 

At last Dick had arrived in New York 
City and was writing from the lovely 
home Barbara remembered so well. He 
had only been there a little while when 
this letter had been written, but already 
Dick had confided the news of his engage- 
ment to his mother and father. 

Barbara could read between the lines 
in a characteristic feminine fashion. Dick 
declared that his father was delighted to 
hear of his happiness and that he had not 
forgotten that they probably owed their 
son’s life to the girl to whom he was now 
engaged. 


120 


With the Russian Army 


But Judge Thornton agreed with his 
son — a man should be able to support 
his wife before he married. Therefore he 
meant to do all that he could to get Dick 
started in the right way, so that he might 
go ahead as quickly as possible. 

Dick did not seem to feel that it would 
take very long to accomplish this delect- 
able result, but to Barbara, away off in 
Russia, a land she both disliked and feared, 
the situation looked pretty Indefinite. 

Moreover, Dick had said nothing about 
the way in which his mother had received 
the news of a prospective daughter-in-law. 
This was not an oversight on Dick’s part; 
Barbara understood him too well to be 
deceived into any such impression. He 
and his mother were too intimate and de- 
voted for him not to care intensely about 
her attitude toward the girl he wished to 
marry. Never could he have forgotten 
to mention his mother’s position! No, it 
was merely what she had always expected. 
Mrs. Thornton thoroughly disapproved of 
her son’s engagement and Dick would not 
wound the girl he loved by writing her 


The Attack 


121 


this fact. Later there was a chance that 
his mother might be persuaded to change 
her mind. But in any case it would be 
easier to explain by word of mouth than 
coldly to set down the present situation. 

Moreover, if Barbara had required further 
proof, she would have had it in the fact 
that Mrs. Thornton had not written her a 
single line to say either that she was glad 
or sorry that the daughter of her husband’s 
old friend had become engaged to her 
only son. If she had spoken of the matter 
to Mildred, Mildred had never referred 
to it, proving again that any comment 
from Mrs. Thornton must have been un- 
favorable. 

While she made these reflections follow- 
ing the rereading of her fiance’s letter, 
Barbara was lying on her cot-bed with an 
army blanket drawn close up under her 
chin. Now she buried her curly head 
deeper in her pillow and turned from Dick’s 
to Eugenia’s letter. 

It was difiicult to think of Eugenia 
Peabody as Madame Castaigne, indeed 
as the Countess Castaigne, only neither 


122 


With the Russian Army 


she nor her husband would ever be induced 
to use their titles. The old Countess 
might always remain in safe possession 
of hers. 

Barbara wondered if Eugenia was happier 
than she was. Then she felt ashamed of 
herself. Eugenia’s husband was every 
instant in danger of losing his life, while 
Dick had only returned to the United 
States, where he was now safe in his own 
home. Yet Eugenia’s letter made no 
complaints. She mentioned having seen 
Captain Cas-taigne once in the past month, 
when he had received a leave of absence 
of twenty-four hours and had hurried to 
her. 

No, Eugenia’s letter was chiefly devoted, 
as all her previous letters had been, to her 
interest and concern in the three American 
Red Cross girls. She wished them to 
return immediately to France and to the 
old chateau, where the Countess Castaigne 
would be only too happy to shelter them. 
Later, if they wished, they could find other 
Red Cross work to do in France. But 
Russia was not a country where the girls 


The Attack 


123 


should have gone at this time, and cer- 
tainly not without her to look after them. 
Moreover, the news from the Russian 
lines grew more and more alarming. 
Everywhere the Germans seemed to be 
conquering. It was disheartening after 
the Russian triumphs at the beginning 
of the war. The letter closed with a final 
plea: would Barbara do her best to per- 
suade Nona and Mildred that they should 
as soon as possible come back to France. 
There would be no cowardice or desertion 
of duty in leaving Russia at present, only 
discretion and good sense. 

And upon this point of view Barbara 
was reflecting when Nona found her. 

Personally Barbara agreed with Eugenia 
and wished that Nona and Mildred would 
join her in withdrawing from Russia when- 
ever they could best be spared. But 
she could not decide whether she ought to 
thrust her point of view upon her friends 
since she was uncertain whether her judg- 
ment or her desire most swayed her. 

France would be so much nearer New 
York and therefore Dick’s letters could 


124 


With the Russian Army 


be so much more frequent. Then there 
was the Countess Castaigne, to whom she 
could pour out all her heartburnings. More- 
over, there was the chance of every now 
and then seeing her beloved Eugenia. 

But Barbara also remembered that she 
had always been the least brave and de- 
termined of the four American nurses ever 
since their arrival in Europe. Should she 
reveal herself in the selfsame light again 

At this instant Nona snuggled under 
the blanket beside the younger girl. 

The Russian winter was fast approach- 
ing and frequently it was bitterly cold. 
Besides, there were no chairs in the Red 
Cross girls’ bedroom, only the three beds 
and some stools, so it was simpler to lie 
down than be seated. 

‘‘I have a long story to tell you, Bab, 
and I want your advice, only I think we 
had best wait for Mildred, so you may 
not have to hear everything twice,” Nona 
began. 

‘‘You mean about Sonya Valesky?” 
Barbara queried. Of course Nona had 
told her two friends of Sonya’s arrest, but 


The Attack 


125 


had not been able to go into the details 
of the story, nor had she mentioned her 
own intentions. Very possibly both the 
girls would disapprove, as Lieutenant Or- 
lafF had done, of her becoming more 
closely involved with Sonya Valesky’s his- 
tory. 

Fortunately Mildred appeared at the 
door without further delay. 

But when she entered the room, both of 
her companions could see that she also had 
something of importance upon her mind 
which she wished to discuss at once. 

Instead of lying down, Mildred imme- 
diately seated herself upon the edge of her 
cot, facing her friends. Then she drew 
her own blanket up around her shoulders. 

‘‘Girls,” she began, “I don’t usually do 
the talking, but I want both of you to listen 
to me for a few moments tonight. I have 
been trying to speak of this for several 
days, and if I don’t tell you now the order 
may come when you are wholly unpre- 
pared. We are to be sent back to Petro- 
grad as soon as a safe escort can be found 
for us.” 


126 


With the Russian Army 


‘‘Sent back to Petrograd! Thank fate 
for even so much!” Barbara whispered 
under the cover. “Petrograd might be 
the beginning of a return journey to 
France.” 

Then she drew her chin up, endeavoring 
to appear deeply wounded. 

“Do you mean, Mildred, that our ser- 
vices as Red Cross nurses are not considered 
valuable?” she demanded. “Why, only 
today one of the Russian surgeons de- 
clared that it was difficult to decide which 
one of us did the best work. Of course, 
I think Mildred at present deserves the 
prize, Nona has been off duty so long in 
taking care of Sonya Valesky.” 

Mildred Thornton glanced from one girl’s 
face to the other. In spite of Barbara’s 
eifort to conceal her pleasure, it was evi- 
dent that she was secretly rejoicing. But 
Mildred understood Barbara’s position; it 
was natural that she should feel as she did 
under the circumstances. Then Barbara 
had never put forth any claims to being a 
martyr. 

What really surprised Mildred Thornton 


The Attack 


127 


was Nona Davis’ expression of relief, al- 
most of pleasure, at her news. 

Why, Nona had been more enthusiastic 
than any one of them over the Red Cross 
nursing in Russia! She it was who had 
originally planned their coming into Russia 
and had been most deeply Interested since 
their arrival. 

‘‘But why are we to be sent back to 
Petrograd?” Nona also demanded, frown- 
ing a little in her effort to grasp the situa- 
tion. “What reason was given; have we 
failed in any duty or service since our 
arrival at Grovno?” Nona went on, sit- 
ting up, while two spots of color appeared 
In her cheeks. “Please, Mildred, don’t be 
mysterious. Tell us where you received 
your information and why we are to be 
sent away so ignominiously?” 

Mildred "^I’hornton shook her head in 
quiet reproach. She was not so impatient 
nor so unreasonable as the other two girls. 

“I am waiting to tell you,’ she returned. 
“The other afternoon I was sitting alone in 
the little Russian church when General 
Dmitri Alexis came in. On leaving he 


128 


With the Russian Army 


chanced to discover me and asked me to 
walk with him for a few moments. You 
know I told you I had met him the day he 
came into my hospital ward to decorate the 
dying soldier?” Mildred added. 

This time her companions only nodded, 
not wishing to interrupt. 

‘‘Well, it was General Alexis himself who 
said that he wished us to go back to Petro- 
grad. It was not that he felt the fortress 
at Grovno would not be able to hold out 
against the German attacks, but that a 
soldier should be prepared for any emer- 
gency. In case Grovno should fall, or 
General Alexis decide it wiser to retreat 
and join another portion of Grand Duke 
Nicholas’ army, he does not wish us at 
Grovno. He says that the Russian Red 
Cross nurses have the right to remain with 
their own soldiers, but that we are Ameri- 
cans and with us the circumstances are 
different. He does not intend that harm 
shall befall us. So I am afraid we have no 
choice in the matter. As soon as the order 
comes from General Alexis we must be 
ready to leave at once. One can scarcely 


The Attack 


129 


dare disobey the commander in chief,’’ 
Mildred concluded, with regret in her tones. 

‘‘Certainly not,” Barbara added with 
emphasis. 

Then for another moment Nona Davis 
continued gazing thoughtfully at Mildred. 

“I suppose I ought to tell you, Mildred, 
you and Barbara both, that I am not sorry 
we are to go to Petrograd; indeed, I am 
truly glad. Because I had intended to try 
to get permission to return there alone. 
You know I told you of Sonya’s arrest, but 
I did not tell you that I intend to do all 
that I possibly can to befriend her. She 
seems to have no one who cares what be- 
comes of her so far as I can find out, except 
her two old servants, Katja and Nika. I 
may not be able to do much, but I have 
written Eugenia, asking her to lend me 
some money and to forward it to the Amer- 
ican Ambassador at Petrograd as soon as 
possible. I would like to leave almost at 
once. You see, I don’t know what has 
become of Sonya, nor when her trial may 
take place.” 

“And for my part I hope you may never 


130 


With the Russian Army 


know,” Barbara protested, sitting up with 
her cheeks suddenly crimson and her hair 
much tousled. 

‘‘See here, girls, I know neither of you 
think much of my advice, and very prob- 
ably you don’t consider me especially 
brave. I’m not disputing the last point. 
But I am more sensible than either of you 
and I can see both sides of a situation 
better. Mildred is an idealist, and Nona, 
you are a dreamer. You think you are 
not, but I expect you have more of your 
mother’s blood in you than you realize. I 
am desperately sorry for Sonya Valesky. 
I think she is an exquisite and much- 
wronged woman with the courage and de- 
votion necessary to a martyr. But I don’t 
see that you are particularly fitted to fol- 
low her example, Nona. That is all that 
would happen if you attempt to mix your- 
self up with Sonya Valesky’s political for- 
tunes in Petrograd. You have no im- 
portant friends and could do absolutely 
nothing for her, but you might manage to 
get yourself and us, because we care for 
you, into a great deal of hot water.” 


The Attack 


131 


Mildred began to undress. 

‘‘I think Bab is right, Nona, though I 
understand just how you feel. It does 
seem too cruel to desert a friend in a time 
of such extremity. When we get to Petro- 
grad perhaps we can talk Sonya Valesky’s 
case over with our Ambassador and he may 
help us with his advice. Let’s get to sleep 
now; we can judge more wisely in the 
morning.” 

It was too cold for a leisurely disrobing, 
so in a very short time the three girls were 
ready for the night. Soon after they were 
asleep. 

For many hours, lasting all through the 
darkness, the fortress at Grovno appeared 
wrapped in a profound silence. This in 
spite of the presence of many thousands of 
men without and within its gates. Now 
and then there may have been the faint 
noise of a sentry changing his watch, or a 
scout arriving with a report for head- 
quarters. 

It was just at dawn when the German 
attack began. But the Russian general 
had been warned and was awaiting it. 


132 


With the Russian Army 


Never in all the grim history of war was 
there ever a more sudden or more terrific 
cannonading. 

The three American girls were at first 
stunned by the unexpected noises of the 
explosions. Shell after shell shrieked over 
the walls of the fortress, cannon after can- 
non repeated an unceasing bombardment. 

Neither were the Russian guns slow in 
replying. .Except for the location of the 
sounds it was impossible to tell which were 
the Russian cannon and which those of the 
enemy. 

For some time no one of the three Amer- 
ican girls attempted to speak. It would 
have been impossible to have heard one 
another. But by and by Barbara crawled 
out of her cot and put her arm about 
Mildred Thornton. 

‘‘I am frightened, Mildred. I wish 
your General’s order had come sooner 
and we were safely away from Grovno. 
I think perhaps because of Dick I don’t 
want anything dreadful to happen. I 
want to be happy.” 

There was a sob in Barbara’s voice 


The Attack 


133 


which Mildred heard, if not with her ears, 
at least with her heart. 

‘‘It is going to be all right, little sister,” 
she returned. “I can’t explain exactly 
why, but I have perfect faith in General 
Alexis.” 


CHAPTER X 


Mildred^ s Opportunity 

F or five days and nights the firing 
continued almost without cessation. 
In a measure the occupants of the 
Russian fortress grew accustomed to the 
noises, unless one explosion seemed a little 
more terrific than the others. 

Actually the Red Cross nurses went 
about their work inside the hospital wing 
of the fort as though the Germans were 
not attacking. 

There was one fact, however, that could 
not be overlooked : more and more wounded 
were constantly being brought in, until 
not only the cots but most of the floor 
space of the wards were covered with 
stricken soldiers. 

There was no definite news. No one 
could say whether the Germans had been 
seriously depleted by the Russian gun 
fire, or whether the Grovno fort would 

( 134 ) 


Mildred’s Opportunity 


135 


be able to continue it’s resistance. A few 
of the outer defenses had already fallen. 
The Russian soldiers in the trenches behind 
the first line of barricades had sought 
safety inside the fortress. But these signs 
meant nothing of moment, and no one 
dared ask questions of the Russian officers, 
who alone might know the purpose of their 
commander. 

Then on the morning of the seventh 
day, at dawn, Mildred Thornton, who 
chanced to be gazing out of a small window 
which overlooked the courtyard of the 
fort, made a discovery. 

She had not been asleep all night, as 
there was so much work to be done, but 
on the way to her room had stopped for 
a single breath of fresh air, after the fever 
and confusion of the hospital. 

What she saw were enormous cannon 
being lifted on low motor trucks and these 
trucks being driven as swiftly as possible 
outside the Grovno gate and along the 
Russian highway. There were a few sol- 
diers accompanying them. 

Almost with the flash of an intuition 


136 


With the Russian Army 


the idea came to Mildred: General Alexis 
was contemplating a retreat. He must 
have decided that, alone and with only a 
limited number of regiments at his com- 
mand, he would be unable to hold out 
against the enemy for an unlimited time. 
Therefore it might be wiser to draw them 
further into Russia and away from their 
own supplies. General Alexis could join 
Grand Duke Nicholas beyond the Styr 
River and there be better prepared to 
meet the invaders. Mildred knew that 
the country on the other side of the river 
covered miles of swamps. If the bridges 
over the river were destroyed, the Germans 
would find great difficulty in pursuit. 

Therefore the cannon and other heavy 
guns, with whatever munitions could be 
spared, were first to be taken to places 
of safety. Later on General Alexis would 
probably give orders for a more general 
retreat. But when Grovno fell the Ger- 
mans would find none of the spoils of war 
left behind for the victors. 

All this Mildred thought out slowly 
and carefully as she stood for a few mo- 


Mildred’s Opportunity 


137 


ments beside the tiny window. Then she 
went into her room, changed her uniform 
for a fresher one and returned to her work. 
Not a word of her idea did she breathe 
to any one. She had no foundation for 
her impression, and at first it was an 
impression, nothing more. Yet Barbara 
or Nona might have been frightened by 
the suggestion. 

However, as the dawn passed and the 
hours of the day followed, other persons 
beside Mildred Thornton began dimly to 
appreciate the possible conditions. More 
and more of the munitions of war were 
hauled away, and surely this did not 
look as if the fight were to be persisted 
in at Grovno. 

Finally, just before twilight the order 
came that the wounded, with their nurses 
and surgeons, were to be moved at night- 
fall. Whatever preparations were neces- 
sary must be made at once. 

Silently small groups of soldiers were 
already being marched away. 

Oh, of course the old guns of the famous 
fortress continued to belch forth destruc- 


138 


With the Russian Army 


tion, and there was no lessening of the 
front ranks of soldiers, who were directly 
attacking the enemy. General Alexis was 
merely drawing off the men whom he did 
not actually need for defense. Grovno 
could be protected by a comparatively 
small number of soldiers without the enemy 
appreciating any depreciation in their num- 
bers. For all the firing was done behind a 
barricade of walls. So far the Germans 
were about a mile away. There would be 
no hand-to-hand combats until the fortress 
was finally demolished. 

Even under such dangerous conditions 
the American Red Cross girls were re- 
lieved to hear that they were to be sent 
from Grovno. They were also told that 
they were not to follow the army. As 
soon as they reached a railroad, the wounded 
and their nurses were to be removed to 
Petrograd. There they would find hos- 
pitals ready for their accommodation. 

So it was to be Petrograd after all ! 
The three girls were not seriously frightened; 
indeed, they were less so than at the time 
of the French retreat. It was so evident 


Mildred’s Opportunity 


139 


that General Alexis was providing for 
the safety of the wounded before the danger 
time. They would find all the roads open 
to them now, while the Germans were 
being held on the farther side of the ancient 
stone walls. 

Just after dusk the hospital staflP and 
their patients were ready for departure. 
Parties of ten, consisting of seven wounded 
soldiers, two nurses and a physician, gath- 
ered quietly in the stone courtyard en- 
closed by the wings of the fortress. They 
were then placed in low carts, drawn by 
gaunt horses and driven by a Russian 
moujik, wearing a long blouse, high boots 
and a cap with the peculiar Russian peak. 

There were no such facilities for trans- 
portation in Russia as the American Red 
Cross girls had found in France. The 
motor cars and ambulances owned by the 
Russian army were few in number and 
inadequate to their needs. These could 
only be employed in cases where swiftness 
was a pressing necessity. 

The three American girls were standing 
together just outside a stone doorway 


140 


With the Russian Army 


leading into the yard and awaiting orders. 
As a matter of course they wore their 
Red Cross uniforms: the long circular 
cape and the small close-fitting bonnet. 
But Barbara had also put on nearly every- 
thing else she possessed. They would 
be traveling all night under extremely 
uncomfortable conditions and through a 
bitterly cold country. In fact, Barbara 
looked rather like a little “Mother Bunch” 
with her squirrel fur coat on top of her 
sweater and her cape over them both, 
and carrying her army blanket. 

Mildred was also prepared for the cold 
with a heavy coat under her uniform cape. 
Unfortunately, Nona owned nothing to 
make her more comfortable, except that 
Mildred had insisted upon lending her her 
sweater. But both girls had their blankets 
over their arms and small bags in their 
hands. There would be no room for 
other luggage. 

“We are going to have a wonderful 
night, I think,” Barbara murmured. “Of 
course it will be hard and we may have to 
suffer discomfort and see others suffering 


Mildred’s Opportunity 


141 


far worse things. But a retreat through 
this strange country, with its odd inhabi- 
tants, as unlike as if they belonged in 
different planets, will be an experience 
none of us will ever wish to forget.” 

It was curious that Barbara should 
almost whisper her little speech, as if her 
voice could be heard above the uproar 
of the cannonading. Yet in the pauses 
between the firing lasting a few moments 
the silence seemed almost unearthly. 

At present there was just such a silence, 
so that the American girls could even 
hear the creaking of the old wagon wheels 
as the ambulance carts rolled out of the 
fortress yard. Now and then there was 
a faint groan from a wounded man that 
could not be repressed. The wagons had 
no springs, but were made as comfortable 
as possible by layers of hay covering the 
wagon floors. 

Almost the moment that Barbara’s speech 
was finished, some one suddenly stepped 
out of the door, near which the three 
girls were standing. Looking up they 
discovered a colonel in the Russian army. 


142 


With the Russian Army 


on the personal staff of General Alexis. 
No one of the three girls knew the officer’s 
name; his rank they recognized from the 
uniform he wore. Moreover, they had 
observed him always accompanying the 
Russian commander as one of his chief 
aides. 

His appearance in the courtyard at this 
moment was surprising, but in all prob- 
ability he wished to issue a direct order 
concerning the plan of retreat. 

Yet the officer did not at once move 
forward to where groups of soldiers were 
also making preparations to be on the 
march. Instead he stood for a few moments 
just outside the door, gazing searchingly 
about him. 

No one of the Red Cross girls spoke. 
They were too awed by the gravity of 
the situation to make trivial remarks. 
Moreover, the big Russian officer was an 
impressive figure. It was more interest- 
ing to watch him until they were summoned 
to take their places in the wagons that 
were now leaving the fortress at intervals 
of about ten minutes apart. 


Mildred^s Opportunity 


143 


By chance Mildred Thornton made a 
movement and immediately the Russian 
colonel directed his glance toward her. 
He stared at her for a moment in silence 
and then, stepping forward, touched her 
upon the arm. 

should like to speak to you a moment 
alone, nurse,” he announced in low tones, 
although Barbara and Nona both heard 
this part of his speech. 

Instantly Mildred complied, and the 
girl and man moved a few feet away, 
where they could talk without being over- 
heard. 

Under the circumstances neither Bar- 
bara nor Nona had the temerity to follow 
them. But this did not mean that they 
were not both extraordinarily curious. At 
least they strained their ears as much as 
possible in order to try and catch a stray 
word spoken either by Mildred or her 
companion. But they heard nothing ex- 
cept the low murmur of the two voices, 
the officer asking questions and Mildred 
making replies. 

‘‘What on earth do you suppose he can 


144 


With the Russian Army 


be saying to Mill?” Barbara finally whis- 
peredr 

Nona only shook her head. Any guess- 
ing would be a pure waste of energy, since 
Mildred would return in a few moments 
to explain. 

She did come back almost immediately, 
but with her first words her friends realized 
that something unusual had occurred. Or- 
dinarily Mildred was calm and self possessed. 
Now her voice shook and indeed she 
seemed to be shivering either from cold 
or excitement. 

can’t go with you to Petrograd, girls, 
she said quietly enough, however. ‘‘Lis- 
ten, please, so I can make matters plain 
to you, for you may be ordered to leave 
at any moment. Barbara, I want you to 
write my father and mother and try and 
make them see I had no choice in this 
decision. But you must not speak of the 
circumstances to any one else. It would 
be dangerous for me and for us all if you 
betray this confidence. The officer who 
talked with me just then is Colonel Feodor- 
ovitch. He is very near General Alexis 


Mildred’s Opportunity 


145 


and tells me that General Alexis has been 
wounded. The wound is not considered 
serious and he refuses to give up his com- 
mand or to leave the fort until the final 
moment for retreat. Neither must his 
soldiers learn of what has taken place. 
His own surgeon is with him now and will 
remain with him. But there is a chance 
that they will also require a nurse. Colonel 
Feodorovitch came to find one before we 
all got away. By accident he saw me 
first and requested me to remain behind. 
I could not refuse.” 

‘‘Mildred!” Nona and Barbara ex- 
claimed in unison, with no attempt to 
conceal their dismay, almost their 
horror. 

“But you can’t accept, Mildred,” Bar- 
bara expostulated. “If you do I shall 
not leave you. Why, what would your 
mother and father and Dick think of my 
deserting you at such a time.^ Besides, 
don’t you remember that General Alexis 
himself wanted us safe in Petrograd before 
the retreat. He would be bitterly opposed 
to your being chosen to remain behind. 

10 


146 


With the Russian Army 


Didn’t you speak of this to Colonel Feo- 
dorovitch?” 

‘‘I couldn’t, Barbara,” Mildred insisted. 
‘‘It would have been such a long story 
and Colonel Feodorovitch knows about as 
much English as I do Russian. It would 
only have looked as though I were shirk- 
ing a most important duty. General 
Alexis will not recall ever having thought 
or spoken to me, at a time when the 
Russian army, perhaps the whole Russian 
nation, is dependent on his failure or 
success. If I can do even the least thing 
to help him at such a crisis, why, how 
could I refuse.^ Please try and see this 
as I do, Barbara, you and Nona. There 
may be nothing for me to do. General 
Alexis’ wound is not serious or he could 
not retain his command. I must leave 
you now; I am wanted at once. I’ll 
join you in Petrograd as soon as it is 
humanly possible.” 

But Barbara had clutched Mildred’s 
coat. 

“You shall not stay alone. I am almost 
your sister and I won’t allow it.” 


Mildred’s Opportunity 


147 


Quietly Mildred unclasped the younger 
girl’s hand. 

“For my own sake I would give a great 
deal to have you stay, Bab, but we have 
no choice. Remember, we are under 
discipline like soldiers. We must do as 
we are commanded.” 

With this Mildred returned inside the 
fortress. 

At the same instant Nona Davis and 
Barbara Meade heard their names being 
called. At once they moved forward and 
were assisted inside the wagon, which 
soon after passed out of the gate and 
moved creakingly along the main road 
in the direction of the Styr River. 

They were to cross one of its bridges, 
as the main army was now doing. The 
last of the regiments at Grovno would 
see that the bridges were destroyed before 
the German soldiers could come up to them. 


CHAPTER XI 


A Russian Retreat 

F or many hours the ambulance wagon 
in which Nona and Barbara were 
riding jogged on, forming one of a 
procession of similar wagons. 

The girls grew cold and cramped. Now 
and then they tried to move in order to 
make their patients more comfortable or 
at least to give water to the wounded men. 
But the wagons were so crowded that the 
slightest stirring was well nigh impossible. 

Nevertheless, as Barbara Meade had pre- 
dicted, the long night was one neither she 
nor Nona would ever be willing to forget. 

At first they rode along, passing the 
wooden huts of the peasants that once had 
lined both sides of the main road leading to 
the middle bridge across the river Styr. 
But many of these shacks had suffered 
from the stray shells of the Germans, 
which, having passed beyond the fortress, 

( 148 ) 


A Russian Retreat 


149 


had brought desolation to the country side. 
These little wooden houses in many places 
were mere heaps of burnt-out ashes. Others 
were half burned, or else collapsed, as if| 
they had been houses built by children, who 
had afterwards kicked them down. 

Everywhere, from the little homes that 
were unhurt, as well as from the ruined 
ones, the peasants were fleeing. With the 
passing of the first Russian regiment away 
from Grovno they had guessed what must 
inevitably follow. 

There were bent-over old women and 
men carrying packs on their backs like 
beasts of burden, and in truth the Russian 
peasant has been nothing more for many 
centuries. The children, who ran along 
beside them, were incredibly thin and 
dirty and hungry. 

One member of each little group would 
carry a lighted pine torch, pointing the way 
with fitful shadows. But wherever it was 
possible they followed in the wake of the 
wagons. 

At first the night was dark and the 
American girls could hear their driver mut- 


150 


With the Russian Army 


tering strange Russian imprecations as his 
horses stumbled and felt their way along. 
Finally Barbara presented him with the 
^electric lamp, which had been Dick Thorn- 
ton’s farewell present to her on the day of 
her sailing from New York City. She had 
used it many times since then, but never 
for a queerer purpose. 

However, before they reached the river 
the moon had risen and both Nona and 
Barbara were grateful for the added light. 
Yet the scene they next witnessed was 
lighted by many camp fires. 

The Russian infantry, who had been 
first to begin the retreat from Grovno, had 
camped on this side the river for a few 
hours rest. 

A confused murmur of sounds arose. In 
little knots before the fires men squatted 
on their knees in Oriental fashion, waiting 
for the copper pots to boil. For at all hours 
of the day and night the Russian drinks 
tea, now more than ever, since by com- 
mand of the Czar the soldier is forbidden 
to touch alcohol. 

The girls could observe that the men had 


A Russian Retreat 


151 


curiously unlike faces. It was difficult to 
understand how they could all be Russians. 
Never before had they seen so many of the 
soldiers at one time. Some of them had 
flat faces and high cheek bones, with eyes 
like the Chinese. 

It was very strange! Yet Nona whis- 
pered that they must remember some of 
these Russian soldiers had come from Asia, 
from beyond the Caspian Sea.' Perhaps 
their ancestors had been members of the 
great Mongolian horde that had once in- 
vaded Europe under Genghis Khan. 

In their interest Nona and Barbara began 
discussing the possible history of these 
soldiers aloud. By and by, one of the 
wounded men, who chanced to be a Russian 
university graduate, smiled to himself over 
the interest and excitement of the two 
American nurses. He had been suffering 
intensely from the jolting and was glad for 
anything that would distract his mind from 
his suffering. 

^^The soldiers you are discussing are 
called ‘TurcomenV’ remarked aloud. 

Nona and Barbara were startled by the 


152 


With the Russian Army 


voice out of the darkness, but they mur- 
mured confused thanks. 

‘‘Perhaps we had best not discuss our 
surroundings so openly,” Nona suggested, 
and Barbara agreed with a silent motion of 
her head. 

By this time they had reached the cen- 
tral bridge. It was built of steel and 
stretched like a long line of silver across the 
dark river. 

Over the bridge, like enormous over- 
burdened ants, the American girls could 
see other ambulance wagons moving slowly 
on. For the horses had become weary of 
their heavy loads and yet were to have no 
rest of any length until daylight. 

On the farther side of the river there 
were other small encampments. But by 
and by Barbara Meade fell asleep with her 
head pressed against Nona’s shoulder. 

Occasionally Nona drowsed, but not 
often. She was torn between two worries. 
What would become of Mildred Thornton, 
left behind with strangers in a besieged 
fortress that might fall at any hour.^ 
Surely, her situation was more fraught with 


A Russian Retreat 


153 


danger than any in which the Red Cross 
girls had found themselves since their 
arrival in Europe. 

Nona wished that she had taken sides 
with Barbara more decisively and refused 
to leave Grovno unless Mildred accom- 
panied them. 

But Mildred had disappeared so quickly. 
Then the order had come for their departure 
almost at the same instant. There had 
been so little time to protest or even to 
think what was best. Certainly Mildred 
herself should have refused to accept such 
a dangerous responsibility. But at the 
same moment that Nona condemned her 
friend, she realized that she would have 
done exactly the same thing in her place. 
In coming to assist with the Red Cross 
nursing they had promised to put the 
thought of duty first. Mildred could not 
shirk the most important task that had 
yet been asked of her. 

Perhaps no harm would befall her.] Cer- 
tainly Nona appreciated that everything 
possible would be done to insure Mildred’s 
safety. Her life and honor would be the 


154 


With the Russian Army 


first charge of the soldiers surrounding her. 
Moreover, General Alexis would certainly 
leave the fortress before there was a chance 
of his being taken prisoner. He was too 
valuable a commander to have his services 
lost and the Germans would regard him as 
too important a capture. 

So Nona’s attention wandered from Mil- 
dred to her other friend, Sonya Valesky. 
What had become of Sonya and how was 
she ever to find her in the great and un- 
known city of Petrograd ? If she only had 
a friend to consult, but she had even been 
compelled to leave Grovno without seeing 
Lieutenant Orlaff again. He had prom- 
ised to write a few letters in Sonya’s behalf, 
although assured that they would do no 
good. 

Yet in some way Nona was determined 
to discover the Russian woman. Perhaps 
the Czar himself might be brought to pardon 
Sonya if he heard that she would leave for 
the United States and never return to 
Russia again. Then Nona smiled and 
sighed at the same time over her own 
simplicity. The Czar was at the head of his 


A Russian Retreat 


155 


troops, with the fate of his crown and his 
country at stake. ‘‘What did one woman 
more or less count in times like these?’' 

Before daylight Nona must have also 
^ slept, because she was finally awakened by 
the stopping of their ambulance wagon. 

When she opened her eyes she was sur- 
prised to see a rose flush in the sky and to 
hear the slow puffing of an engine. 

The wagons had arrived at a small rail- 
road station, connecting with the main 
road leading into Petrograd. 

Word of the approach of the ambulances 
must have been sent ahead, for a train of 
more than a dozen coaches was even now 
in waiting. 

As quickly as possible Nona and Barbara 
crawled out of their wagon, stamping their 
feet on the frozen ground and waving their 
arms in order to start their circulation. 
Then they began to assist in transferring 
the wounded soldiers from the wagons to 
the cars. The men were wonderfully 
patient and plucky, for they must have suf- 
fered tortures. They had first to be lifted 
on to an ambulance cot and then trans- 


156 


With the Russian Army 


ferred to another cot inside the train. A 
few of the soldiers fainted and for them 
Nona and Barbara were relieved. At 
least they were spared the added pain. 

Yet by and by, when the long line of 
cars started for Petrograd, the occupants 
of the coaches were amazingly cheerful. 
Tea and bread had been served all of the 
travelers and cigarettes given to the men. 

Some of the soldiers sang, others told 
jokes, those who were most dangerously 
ill only lay still and smiled. They were on 
their way to Petrograd ! This meant 
home and friends to some of them. To 
others it meant only the name of their 
greatest city and the palace of their Czar. 
But to all of them Petrograd promised 
comfort and quiet, away from the horrible, 
deafening noises of exploding bullets and 
shells. 

Naturally Nona and Barbara were af- 
fected by the greater cheerfulness about 
them. 

‘^If only Mildred were with us, how re- 
lieved I would be. Really, I don’t know 
how we are to bear the suspense of not 


A Russian Retreat 


157 


knowing what has become of her,” Bar- 
bara said not once, but a dozen times in the 
course of the day. 

But night brought them into the famous 
Russian capital. 


CHAPTER XII 


Petrograd 

O N their arrival Barbara and Nona 
went with the wounded soldiers to 
a Red Cross hospital in Petrograd. 
There, to her consternation, a few days 
later Nona Davis became ill. The illness 
was only an attack of malarial fever, which 
Nona had been subject to ever since her 
childhood; nevertheless, the disease had 
never chosen a more unpropitious time for 
its reappearance. 

For a few days she seemed dangerously 
ill, then her convalescence left her weak 
and exhausted. She was totally unfit for 
work and only a burden instead of an aid 
to the hospital staff. 

Poor Barbara had a busy, unhappy time 
of it. She did her best to look after Nona 
in spare moments from her regular nursing, 
and she also tried not to lose courage when 
no word came from Mildred. Neither 

( 158 ) 


Petrograd 


159 


from newspapers nor inquiries in all pos- 
sible directions could she even learn whether 
Grovno had fallen. 

She was unable to read the newspapers 
for herself and so was compelled to wait 
until one of the other nurses could find 
time to laboriously translate the informa- 
tion into English. 

Evidently at the present time the Rus- 
sian papers did not desire the Russian 
people to learn the fate of the fortress and 
its commander. For all news on the sub- 
ject was carefully withheld. 

Under the strain Barbara might have 
broken down herself except for a piece of 
good fortune that at length came to Nona 
and to her. 

An American woman, married to a Rus- 
sian, the Countess Sergius, learning of the 
presence of the two American Red Cross 
nurses in the Russian hospital, called at 
once to see if she could do anything for their 
comfort. Discovering Nona ill and Bar- 
bara on the verge of a breakdown, the 
American woman insisted that the girls 
be her guests. They were not able to be 


160 


With the Russian Army 


of special assistance at the hospital under 
the present circumstances, while a week 
or so of rest and change might do wonders 
for them both. 

In answer to Nona’s protest that she was 
not well enough to be an agreeable visitor 
and could not bear the ordeal of meeting 
strangers, the older woman announced 
that the girls could live as quietly as they 
liked. She would let them have a private 
apartment in her house and they need see 
no one except the servants who would look 
after them. 

As the American Countess was un- 
doubtedly extremely wealthy and most 
anxious to be of service, Barbara and Nona 
gratefully accepted her invitation. So 
about ten days after their arrival in Petro- 
grad they were living in one of the hand- 
somest houses along the famous Nevski 
Prospect. This is the Fifth Avenue of 
Petrograd, a wide avenue three miles in 
length. Nothing is small in Russia or in 
the Russian people. 

The girls were delightfully comfortable. 
One-half the third floor of the great house 


Petrograd 


161 


had been given up to them, consisting of 
two bedrooms, a bath, and a sitting room 
where their meals were served. 

Indeed, the girls ■ soon discovered that 
although the Countess meant to be hospit- 
able and kind, she was sincerely glad that 
they wished to be left alone. She was an 
extremely busy woman, one of the im- 
portant hostesses of Petrograd in times of 
peace. But now, like most society women 
in the allied countries, she was devoting all 
her energies to relief work. There were 
charity bazaars and concerts and Russian 
ballet performances, for the benefit of the 
soldiers, that must be managed day and 
night. 

After three days of luxury and idleness 
Nona Davis felt strong again. 

Perhaps more than the other Red Cross 
girls she deserved credit for her devotion to 
her nursing. For Nona had the southern 
temperament which loves beauty and ease, 
and there were times in her life when she 
had deliberately to shut her eyes to these 
enticements. 

But now, with the thought of Sonya 


11 


162 


With the Russian Army 


Valesky ever on her mind, she could not 
allow herself to relax an hour longer than 
necessary. 

Contrary to Barbara Meade’s judgment, 
Nona decided to ask the advice of their 
hostess as to how she should begin the 
search for her Russian friend. 

Instantly the American woman became 
less cordial. But when Nona had told as 
much of the other woman’s story as she 
dared, the Countess frankly discussed the 
situation with her. 

If Nona would be guided by an older 
woman she would give up the quest for 
Sonya Valesky. Certainly Sonya’s fate 
was an unhappy one, but she was wholly 
responsible for it herself. If she had been 
content to take life as she found it she 
would now have been occupying a brilliant 
position. 

The Countess evidently had no use for 
reformers or persons who break away from 
recognized conditions. She confessed to 
Nona that her own position in Russian so- 
ciety had been difficult to attain. Not for 
worlds would she be suspected of having 


Petrograd 


163 


anything to do with a Socialist, or an 
Anarchist, or whatever dreadful character 
Nona’s friend might be! The Countess 
was perfectly polite, but Nona thoroughly 
understood that if she insisted upon dis- 
covering the unfortunate Sonya, her pres- 
ence as a guest in the Countess’ home 
would no longer be desired. 

Since there was nothing else to do, Nona 
decided that she must wait until help came 
from some unexpected direction. She had 
no idea of giving up the search for Sonya. 
But in the meantime she could enjoy a brief 
rest and see Petrograd. 

In the winter time Petrograd is the most 
beautifully quiet city in the world. And 
now in war times it was scarcely less so, for 
the ground was covered with many inches 
of snow. There was a muffled sound even 
to the tread of the soldiers’ feet, marching 
through the frozen streets. Neither was 
there a single wagon or carriage to be heard, 
since everybody went about in sleighs and 
everything was hauled in the same way. 
But now, because all the best horses were 
at the front, one often saw great oxen draw- 


164 


With the Russian Army 


ing sledges through the once gay and fash- 
ionable city. 

The Countess Sergius had retained only 
a single pair of horses for her own use and 
that of her big household, nevertheless, she 
now and then loaned her sleigh for an 
afternoon to her two American girl guests. 

Sight-seeing was the only amusement 
which kept Nona and Barbara from a mor- 
bid dwelling on their worries. Barbara had 
written to Judge and Mrs. Thornton in the 
way that Mildred had directed. But she 
could not feel that either of Mildred’s 
parents would feel any the less wretched 
and uneasy because their daughter be- 
lieved that she was only ‘‘doing her duty.” 
Since the original letter Barbara had never 
been able to write them again. What 
’ could she say, except that no word of any 
kind had since been received from Mildred ? 
There would be small consolation in this 
news, and of course Barbara wrote Dick 
every few days. 

One afternoon Barbara and Nona left 
the Countess’ house at about three o’clock 
and drove down the entire length of the 


Petrograd 


165 


Nevski Prospect toward the Winter Palace 
of the Czar. 

There were scudding gray clouds over- 
head and a light snow falling. 

No one could have failed to be interested. 
The Russian streets are ordinarily paved 
with sharp-edged stones, but the ice made 
them smooth as glass. Over the windows 
of the shops the girls could see painted 
pictures of what the shopkeepers had to 
sell inside. This is common in Russia, 
since so many of her poorer people are 
unable to read. 

Most of the buildings in Petrograd are of 
stucco, and indeed, except for her churches 
and a few other buildings, the Russian 
capital resembles a poor imitation of Paris. 
Peter the Great, who constructed the city 
upon the swamp lands surrounding the 
river Neva, was determined to force Rus- 
sia into the western world instead of the 
east. For this reason he brought all his 
artists from France and Italy, so that he 
might model his new city upon their older 
ones. 

The Winter Palace itself the girls dis- 


166 


With the Russian Army 


covered to be a Renaissance building, with 
one side facing the river and the other a 
broad square. Their sleigh stopped by the 
tall monolith column commemorating Alex- 
ander the First, which stands almost directly 
in front of the Palace. Leading from the 
Palace to the Hermitage, once the palace 
of the great Catherine, is a covered archway. 

The Hermitage is one of the greatest art 
museums in the world and contains one of 
the finest collections of paintings in Europe. 
Although the two Red Cross girls had now 
been in Petrograd several weeks, neither of 
them had yet been inside the famous 
gallery. 

Suppose we go in now and see the pic- 
tures,” Barbara proposed. ‘^We might as 
well take advantage of our opportunities, 
even if we are miserable,” she added with 
the characteristic wrinkling of her small 
nose. ‘‘Besides, Pm frozen, and you must 
be more so, Nona. How I have adored my 
squirrel coat and cap ever since we came to 
this arctic zone! Thank fortune, our Count- 
ess has loaned you some furs, Nona! Do 
you know, I really am not so surprised that 


Petrograd 


167 


your mother was a Russian noble woman. 
You look like my idea of a Russian princess, 
with your pale gold hair showing against 
that brown fur. Who knows, maybe you’ll 
turn into a Russian princess some day! 
But shall I tell our driver to stop.^” 

Nona Davis shook her head, smiling and 
yet rather pathetic, in spite of her lovely 
appearance in borrowed finery. 

‘‘I don’t want to be a Russian princess, 
Bab, or a Russian anything, I am afraid, in 
spite of my heritage. I think it a good deal 
nicer to be engaged to an American like 
Dick Thornton. If you don’t mind, let’s 
don’t try to see the pictures today. I am 
tired and we ought to be fresh for such an 
experience. If you are cold, suppose we 
go back into the center of the town and 
walk about for a while. Then we can send 
the sleigh home to the Countess. I don’t 
feel that we should keep it for our use 
the entire afternoon, and if we stop to look 
at the pictures it would take the rest of the 
day. There are some queer side streets 
that join the Nevski Prospect I should like 
to see. 


168 


With the Russian Army 


The Countess Sergius lived about two 
miles away from the Winter Palace. When 
the girls were within a quarter of a mile of 
the house where they were guests, they 
finally got out of the sleigh. Their driver 
was an old man with a long beard and not 
the character of servant the American 
Countess would have employed under ordi- 
nary conditions. But her former young 
men servants were in the army, and like 
other wealthy families in Russia at this 
time, she was glad to employ any one 
possible. 

However, Nona undertook to make the 
man understand that they would not need 
his services again that afternoon. She had 
more of a gift for languages than the west- 
ern girl and her knowledge of French was 
always useful. So after a little hesitation, 
the big sleigh at last drove away. And 
actually for the first time since their arrival 
in Petrograd Nona and Barbara found 
themselves alone in the Russian streets. 

There could be no danger of getting lost, 
for they had only to come to this central 
thoroughfare and the Countess’ house lay 
straight ahead. 


Petrograd 


169 


So the two girls turned into the side 
street that lay nearest them. 

After a five minutes walk they found 
themselves in another world. 

On the Nevski Prospect they were in 
Europe; here they were in Asia. 

It was curious, but even the smells were 
different. These were Asiatic odors, if the 
girls had only known, queer smells of musk 
and attar of roses and other less pleasant 
things. 

The Russian women and children were 
crowding the narrow streets, while inside 
the little shops the wares were displayed on 
big tables. In the summer time these 
goods were sold on open stalls in the streets. 

Let us go into one of the shops and buy 
a few trinkets,” Barbara suggested. ^‘I 
would like to own one of those embroidered 
Russian aprons.” 

Then she stopped, her attention caught, 
as Nona’s had been, by a sudden rustling 
in the air above them. A moment later a 
flock of gray and white pigeons was crowd- 
ing about their feet. These also were the 
pigeons that haunt the thoroughfares of 
the east. 


170 


With the Russian Army 


Personally Nona Davis would have pre- 
ferred remaining outside in the fresh air. 
She was cold, but she objected to the 
squalid atmosphere of the interior of so 
many Russian houses. However, she could 
not refuse to agree to every request Bar- 
bara made of her all that afternoon. 

A moment later and she was almost as 
interested as the younger girl in making 
purchases. 

There were odd pieces of beautiful, gayly 
colored embroideries that, according to 
American ideas, appeared incredibly cheap. 
Then there were bits of Russian brass, that 
seemed to interest Barbara particularly, as 
it is probable that she had a sudden rush of 
the housekeeper’s ardor. Here were inter- 
esting things that might be purchased for 
her own and Dick’s apartment in New 
York almost for nothing! 

Whatever the cause, Nona, after fifteen 
or twenty minutes, found her own pleasure 
cooling. Moreover, she had very little 
money to spend on frivolities, and so found 
a stool in a corner and sat down to wait for 
Barbara and to watch the crowd. 


Petrograd 


171 


There were numbers of people in the 
shop, although few of them seemed to be 
making purchases. Now and then a big 
soldier, crowned by his peaked fur cap, 
would stalk proudly in to purchase a trinket, 
possibly for the girl of his heart. The 
Russians are ardent lovers, and as the 
soldier was only at home on a short leave, 
he had to make the best of his opportunity. 

Most of the women who were not wear- 
ing furs had heavy shawls drawn over their 
heads and shoulders. Nona could not see 
their faces very well, and only received 
flitting impressions of dark eyes and large, 
heavy features, with almost always the 
curiously pale and yet sallow skin peculiar 
to the Russian peasant. It is only among 
the better classes that one finds other 
types. 

Suddenly Nona gave a cry of alarm, 
which she quickly hushed. To her sur- 
prise some one had quietly come up back 
of her and laid a hand on her shoulder. It 
was one of these same peasant women, 
wearing a heavy, dark shawl. 

She was trying to say something which 


172 


With the Russian Army 


Nona could not at once understand. Yet 
it was plain enough that the woman was 
imploring^her to make no disturbance that 
would attract attention. 

The next moment Nona had recognized 
the woman. It was old Katja, Sonya Val- 
esky’s servant, whom she had left with Nika 
in her little hut. 

What had brought the old woman to 
Petrograd ? In reality Nona knew without 
asking the question. It was Katja’s de- 
votion to Sonya. 

The old woman was speaking a queer 
jumble of languages, Russian and the few 
words of English she had learned while the 
American girl was living in the same house. 

What Nona finally learned was, that 
Katja was imploring her to meet her 
somewhere 'the next day, where they could 
talk withoutl^being observed. 

Nona knew of no place except the one 
that was always open to rich and poor alike 
in Russia. And she had to think quickly. 
Yet the churches had always been their 
refuge ever since the arrival of the four Red 
Crt^-ss girls in Europe. 


Petrograd 


173 


At the same moment Nona could only 
recall the most celebrated Russian church 
in Petrograd. She must lose no time, for 
even Barbara must not learn of her mission, 
and Barbara might turn and come back to 
join her at any moment. 

‘‘In the Cathedral of St. Isaac, toward 
the left and in the rear of the church at 
three o’clock tomorrow,” Nona murmured. 
And Katja must have understood, for she 
went away at once. 

It was just as well, because at almost the 
same moment Barbara returned to join 
Nona, her arms full of queer-shaped pack- 
ages, and looking happier than she had since 
their arrival in the Russian city. 


CHAPTER XIII 


The Next Step 

HE following afternoon it seemed to 



Nona Davis that all Petrograd 


was a-glitter with onion-shaped 
domes. The Russian priests explained 
that these domes were really shaped like 
folded rosebuds, symbolizing the church 
on earth that was to blossom in heaven. 
But to see them in this fashion required a 
Russian imagination. 

However, the effect was very beautiful, 
and Nona was glad to have her attention 
diverted, as she started out to find the 
Cathedral of St. Isaac. Some of the domes 
were of blue, set with stars to represent the 
canopy of the sky. But Nona knew that 
the central dome of St. Isaac’s was an 
enormous copper ball covered with gold 
and that its radiance could be seen at a 
great distance. 

She had had great difficulty in fulfilling 


( 174 ) 


The Next Step 


175 


her engagement with Katja. At first she 
had tried to deceive Barbara in regard to 
her intention, being fully determined to 
continue her search for Sonya until she had 
discovered her; nevertheless, it did not 
seem worth while to trouble Barbara while 
she had no actual information to go upon. 
But Barbara would not be deceived. 

Nona suggested that she wished to walk 
for several hours and feared the younger 
girl might become fatigued. In reply 
Barbara assured her that there was noth- 
ing she herself so much desired as exercise, 
and as for growing tired, Nona would the 
sooner be worn out, since she was the one 
who had been ill. 

Afterwards, while there were other ex- 
cuses for her departure which Nona strug- 
gled to invent, all were equally useless. 
From the first Barbara had guessed her 
plan. Although she had seen nothing and 
knew nothing of Nona’s meeting with Katja 
the day before, she had immediately guessed 
that Nona’s desire for a solitary excursion 
was in some way connected with her effort 
to find Sonya Valesky. And this effort the 
younger girl continued to oppose. 


176 


With the Russian Army 


So Nona had finally departed, leaving 
Barbara in tears over her obstinacy and 
foolhardiness. She was very unhappy, 
but what else was possible for her to do.^ 
Had Barbara been in the same need that 
Sonya now was, surely no one could have 
persuaded her to turn her back upon 
Barbara. 

Katja was waiting and fortunately there 
were but a few other persons in the Cathe- 
dral at the same hour. 

As quickly and as intelligently as she 
knew how, the old woman explained that 
Sonya was in a civil prison in Petrograd 
and was to be tried for treason within 
another week. Katja had not seen her 
child, but had received a few lines in reply 
to a dozen letters which a friend had written 
for her. Katja herself could neither read 
nor write. 

Although Nona could speak only a few 
words of Russian, she had learned to read 
a little of the language with difficulty. 
Now she managed to translate her friend’s 
ideas, if not her exact words. 

Sonya did not wish Katja to try to see 


The Next Step 


177 


her nor to attempt to appear at the prison 
at the hour of her trial. Nothing could be 
done for her release and Katja would only 
be made the more miserable. Neither was 
Katja to let Nona know anything of her 
whereabouts until after sentence was passed. 
Then if Katja could find the American girl 
she was to say farewell for Sonya Valesky. 
She was also to thank Nona for her kind- 
ness and add that the acquaintance with 
her friend’s daughter had brought Sonya 
much happiness. 

Standing with the crumpled sheet of 
paper in her hand, written by the woman 
who so soon expected to say farewell to 
the things that make life worth living, 
Nona Davis felt her own’”cheeks flush and 
her eyes fill with tears. How little had she 
really deserved the Russian woman’s af- 
fection, for how much she had distrusted 
her! 

Well, Nona again determined to do all 
that was possible now to prove her al- 
legiance. 

As soon as she could get away from 
Katja, Nona secured a sleigh and drove 


12 


178 


With the Russian Army 


at once to the house of the American 
Ambassador. Because her card repre- 
sented her as an American Red Cross 
nurse she felt assured that she would be 
treated with every courtesy. 

This was perfectly true, although 
obliged to wait half an hour; finally one 
of the secretaries of the Ambassador in- 
vited the American girl into a small office. 
She could not, of course, see the Ambas- 
sador without a special engagement, but 
the secretary would be pleased to do 
whatever was possible. 

Nona was both pleased and relieved. 
The secretary proved to be a southerner, 
a young fellow from Georgia, who could 
not have been more than twenty-five years 
old. Certainly it was far easier to tell 
the story of Sonya Valesky to him than 
to an older man or to one whose time 
was more valuable. 

Nevertheless, when she had finished, 
although there was no doubt of the secre- 
tary’s attention and interest, Nona found 
him equally as discouraging as everybody 
else had been concerning Sonya Valesky’s 


The Next Step 


179 


fate and any part which she might have 
hoped to play in it. There could be little 
doubt that Sonya would be condemned to 
Siberia. She was a political prisoner and 
would not be tried by a military court. 
Her offense was spoken of as sedition, 
or as an infringement of the ‘^Defense of 
the Realm” act. For Sonya had been 
endeavoring to induce the Russian soldiers 
to join her peace societies rather than to 
fight for their country. 

The young American secretary did his 
best to make the situation plain to Nona 
Davis. In England or France, under the 
same circumstances, Sonya Valesky might 
have escaped with only a short term of 
imprisonment or a fine. But this would not 
be true in Russia. Besides, it appeared 
that Sonya was an old offender and that 
her socialist ideas were well known. It 
would be impossible for the American 
Ambassador or any member of his staff 
to make the smallest effort in Sonya’s 
behalf. Such an effort would represent 
an act of discourtesy on the part of the 
United States Government, as if she were 


180 


With the Russian Army 


attempting to interfere with Russia’s treat- 
ment of her own subjects. 

There was one thing only which the 
young secretary could undertake in Nona’s 
cause. He would make an effort to have 
her allowed to visit her friend. If Sonya’s 
trial was not to take place for a week, it 
was just possible that the American girl 
might be permitted to see her. 

So Nona was compelled to go away 
with only this small consolation. 

However, before leaving she secured 
the address of an American family in 
Petrograd who might be willing to take 
her as a boarder. For Nona realized that 
with her present plan she could not longer 
remain as a guest in the Countess’ house. 

Then Barbara had again to be reckoned 
with. It was early dusk when Nona 
Davis finally reached their apartment in 
the splendid Russian house. Barbara had 
just finished tea, but the tea things had 
not been sent away. 

Because Nona was evidently so tired 
and discouraged the younger girl com- 
forted her with tea and cakes before be- 


The Next Step 


181 


ginning to ask questions. Afterwards Bar- 
bara insisted upon being told the entire 
account of the afternoon’s experiences. 
Nona must begin with her meeting with 
Katja, her interview in the Cathedral, 
then her visit to the house of the United 
States Ambassador and finally the de- 
scription of the place where she had engaged 
board before returning to her temporary 
home. 

Although Barbara was ordinarily much 
given to conversation and frequent in- 
terruptions of other people’s anecdotes, 
she listened without comment until the 
other girl had finished. 

‘‘We are both too tired to pack up our 
few possessions tonight, Nona,” she 
answered in conclusion; “but we can 
attend to them in the morning and then 
say good-by to the Countess.” 

Nona was lying upon a divan with her 
yellow head sunk among a number of 
brown cushions, but she got half way up 
at Barbara’s words. 

“But I don’t expect you to leave here, 
Barbara dear, to go with me,” she pro- 


182 


With the Russian Army 


tested. ‘‘I didn’t engage board for any- 
one else. The house where I am to stay 
is shabby and not especially comfortable. 
I wouldn’t have you leave this lovely 
home for worlds! I am sorry, you may 
be a little lonely without me. But I am 
hoping we may hear from Mildred at 
almost any hour and then I’m sure the 
Countess would be only too happy to have 
her take my place here. I expect Mildred 
will be a distinguished character after 
having been chosen to nurse the great 
General Alexis.” 

‘‘Don’t talk nonsense,” Barbara pro- 
tested, in answer to the first part of her 
friend’s speech. “Of course, I am not 
going to let you wander off and live in a 
strange family by yourself.” Then Bar- 
bara sighed. 

She was sitting on a small stool beside 
Nona’s couch, resting her chin on her 
hand and looking very childish and home- 
sick. 

“Of course, I know you have to do what- 
ever you can for Sonya Valesky, Nona,” 
she agreed unexpectedly. “In your posi- 


The Next Step 


183 


tion I hope I would have the courage to 
behave in the same way. I have only 
made a fuss about things because I was 
worried for you, but I have always known 
you would not pay any attention to me. 
Nobody ever does.” 

Although Nona laughed and attempted 
to argue this point, Barbara remained 
unconvinced. 

‘‘Oh, well, possibly Dick or Eugenia can 
sometimes be persuaded into doing what 
I ask, but never you or Mildred,” she 
concluded, and then sighed again. If 
we could hear just a single word from Mil- 
dred!” 

The next day the two girls moved to 
their new lodgings. Their hostess was 
gracious enough, but made no protest 
when Nona explained that she expected 
to be permitted to visit the Russian prisoner 
within the next few days. 

The order to see Sonya came sooner than 
Nona expected. Indeed, the two girls had 
only been in their new quarters for about 
thirty-six hours when the young secretary 
from the embassy called upon them. With 


184 


With the Russian Army 


him he brought the permit from the Russian 
government. 

Nona was to be allowed to visit the 
prison near the Troitska bridge on the 
following day and to spend ten minutes 
with her friend. She must understand 
that a guard would listen to whatever 
conversation was held. Also she must 
take with her nothing of any kind to 
present to Sonya Valesky. Their inter- 
view would be closely watched. 

Naturally Barbara Meade insisted upon 
accompanying Nona. She knew, of course, 
that she would not be allowed to see the 
prisoner, nor had she the least wish to see 
her. But she could wait in some ante- 
chamber until the ten minutes passed 
and then bring Nona safely back to their 
lodging place. For certainly the experi- 
ence ahead of her friend would be a painful 
one, and although Nona did her best to 
conceal her nervousness from the younger 
girl, Barbara again was not deluded. 

When the two girls set out for the prison 
the next afternoon It would have been 
difficult to decide which one most dreaded 


The Next Step 


185 


the ordeal. But In truth the ordeal was 
in a way a mutual one. While she waited, 
doubtless Barbara’s imagination would 
paint as tragic a scene as Nona might be 
obliged to go through with. 

It seemed to Nona Davis, after leaving 
Barbara, that she walked down a mile 
or more of corridor. The corridor might 
have been an underground sewer, so dark 
and unwholesome were its sights and smells. 
It led past dozens of small iron doors with 
locks and chains fastened on the outside. 

Finally Nona’s guard paused before one 
of these doors and then opened it. Inside 
was an Iron grating with bars placed at 
intervals of about six inches apart. The 
room it barricaded was six feet square and 
contained a bed^and stool. There was one 
small window overhead, not much larger 
than a single pane of glass in an average 
old-fashioned window. 

But the light from the window fell dl 
rectly upon the head of the woman who 
was seated beneath it. 

Sonya Vales ky had not been told that 
she was to receive a visitor. So perhaps 


186 


With the Russian Army 


Nona did appear like a sudden vision of a 
Fra Angelico angel, standing unexpectedly 
in the dark corridor with her hair as golden 
as a shaft of sunlight. 

Sonya only stared at the girl without 
speaking. But Nona saw that her friend’s 
dark hair, which had been a little streaked 
with gray at their first meeting more 
than two years before, was now almost 
pure white. However, Sonya did not 
look particularly ill or unhappy; her blue 
eyes were still serene. Whatever faith in 
life she may have lost, she had not lost 
faith in the cause for which she must suffer. 

‘‘Don’t you know me, Sonya Nona 
asked almost timidly, as if she were talking 
to a stranger. 

Then the Russian woman came forward 
with all her former dignity and grace. 
She was wearing a black dress of some 
rough material, but it seemed to Nona 
Davis that she had never seen a more beau- 
tiful woman. Sonya was like a white lily 
found growing in some underground dun- 
geon. 

She put her hands through the bars and 
took hold of Nona’s cold ones. 


The Next Step 


187 


‘‘This is wonderfully kind of you, Nona?” 
she said with the simplicity of manner that 
had always distinguished her. “I have 
wanted to know what had become of you 
and your friends. Somehow information 
sifts even inside a prison in war times, and 
I have learned that General Alexis gave up 
trying to hold Grovno. You are on your 
way back home, I trust.” 

Nona could scarcely reply. It seemed 
so strange that Sonya could be talking in 
such an everyday fashion, as if her visit 
were being made under ordinary circum- 
stances. Not a word did she say of her 
own sorrow or the tragedy that lay ahead 
of her. 

Nona could only fight back the tears. 
“We are returning to France as soon as 
Mildred Thornton joins us in Petrograd,” 
she answered, and then explained that 
Mildred had stayed behind at Grovno. 

“But isn’t there anything I can do for 
you, Sonya?” Nona added. “I shall cer- 
tainly not leave Petrograd until after your 
trial, and then if you are released you must 
come away with me.” 


188 


With the Russian Army 


The older woman only shook her head, 
shall not be released, Nona, so don’t 
make yourself unhappy with false hopes. 
This is not my first offense against the 
government of Russia. I have never be- 
lieved in the things in which they believe, 
not since I v/as a little girl. I suppose I am 
a troublesome character. But after all, in 
going to Siberia I am only following the 
footsteps of greater men and women than 
I can hope to resemble.” 

Sonya let go Nona’s hands and stepped 
back into her little room’. From under her 
pillow she drew a small folded paper. 

‘‘In going to Siberia I forfeit all my 
estates, Nona,” Sonya Valesky explained 
when she came back. “But I have a small 
amount of money in the United States, as 
well as in my own country. Perhaps the 
government may be willing to allow me to 
dispose of my property, although of course 
I can’t tell. But I have made a will and 
had it witnessed here in the prison. If it is 
possible I want you to have half of the 
little I have left and 'Katja and Nika the 
rest. There would be no chance to leave 
it to the cause of peace in these days.” 


The Next Step 


189 


Nona received the little paper. 

“You won’t be in Siberia all your life, 
Sonya, that I won’t believe,” she pro- 
tested. “Some day when this war is over 
the Czar will pardon you. Please re- 
member that I shall never forget you and 
never stop trying to do what I can for 
your release. If I am allowed to have it, 
I will take care of your money until you 
are able to come to me.” 

Hearing a guttural noise behind her, 
Nona Davis now turned around. Her 
guard was signaling that the time allotted 
for her visit was over. 

She was not able to kiss the older woman 
good-by, only to hold both her hands 
close for another moment and then to go 
away with her eyes so blinded with tears 
that she could, not see. Yet she never 
forgot the picture that Sonya Vales ky 
made when she had a final glance at 
her. 

Four days later a few lines appeared 
in the Russian daily papers, stating that 
Sonya Valesky, a woman of noble birth, 
but at present a Russian nihilist, had 


190 


With the Russian Army 


been condemned to penal servitude in 
Siberia for life. ’ She had been proved 
guilty of treason to the Imperial Govern- 
ment. 


CHAPTER XIV 


Mildred^ s Return 

O N the same afternoon that Nona 
and Barbara read the news of 
Sonya Valesky’s sentence, Mildred 
Thornton came to Petrograd. 

Her return was characteristic of Mildred. 
It was a little past twilight and Nona 
and Barbara were in their shabby sitting 
room; they now shared the same bedroom 
in the new lodgings. Nona had been 
crying, and in order to try and make her 
forget, Barbara was reading aloud. She 
had received a package of books and maga- 
zines from Dick Thornton earlier in the 
day, but this was her first chance to look 
them over. 

Although endeavoring to listen, in reality 
Nona’s attention was only pretence. Her 
thoughts were with the Russian woman 
whose life had been so strangely associated 
with her own. It seemed to Nona that 

( 191 ) 


192 


With the Russian Army 


she had not realized how much she cared 
for Sonya Valesky until these last few 
weeks. She had become like an exquisite 
older sister whom she might possibly have 
had as a companion and friend. Never 
had Nona been more conscious of her own 
loneliness. It is true that she had been 
more or less lonely all her life, but this 
she had taken as a matter of course. Now 
in these last few hours she had suddenly 
been overwhelmed by the thought. 

Apparently their work as Red Cross 
nurses in Europe was nearly over. At 
least, when Mildred finally joined them, 
the three girls Intended returning to France 
to spend a little time with Madame Cas- 
taigne and Eugenia. Then Barbara and 
Mildred would doubtless go back to their 
homes in the United States. Barbara 
would be married in a short time and Mil- 
dred would not wish to remain longer 
away from her mother and father. But 
Nona had no home and no people to whom 
she might return. 

The girl was glad at this moment that 
there were no lights - in their sitting room 


Mildred’s Return 


193 


save the two candles which were directly 
behind Barbara’s book. She did not wish 
the younger girl to guess the extent of her 
depression. 

Yet it was Nona who first heard the 
knock at their sitting room door. Quickly 
as possible she got up and walked for- 
ward to open it, not even attempting 
to smooth her hair or to wipe the traces 
of tears from her face. Barbara did not 
glance from the page of her book, both 
girls were so convinced that it was only 
the woman who usually brought them 
their dinner at this hour. 

When Nona opened the door, Mildred 
took her by both shoulders and quietly 
kissed her. 

‘‘Mildred!” It was Nona’s exclama- 
tion that finally aroused Barbara Meade. 
But even then, although Barbara rose to 
her feet, dropping her book on the floor, 
she did not move forward. She let Mil- 
dred come and put her arms around her 
and kiss her on both cheeks. Then Mil- 
dred stood still in the center of the room 
and smiled at her two friends. 


13 


194 


With the Russian Army 


“Won’t either one of you say she is 
glad to see me?” she asked, with a mixture 
of gayety and wistfulness. 

By this time Barbara and Nona were 
both embracing the newcomer at once, 
and at the same time attempting to re- 
move her wraps. Under her nursing coat 
Mildred was wearing a long sable coat, 
suitable for a princess, but neither of the 
girls noticed it in the excitement of her 
arrival. 

“Where did you come from? Oh, Mil- 
dred, what have you been doing all this 
time? I have nearly died of anxiety.” 
Barbara protested. “Surely you could 
have gotten us some word, if only to say 
you were alive.” 

Mildred shook her head. “I couldn’t, 
dear. I have come back to you the very 
first moment it was possible. But it is a 
long story. I can’t tell you all at once. 
May I sit down?” 

At last Nona and Barbara had the grace 
to observe that Mildred looked white 
and tired. 

“I arrived in Petrograd about half an 


Mildred’s Return 


195 


hour ago with General Alexis and his 
staff and the Russian maid who has been 
with us ever since we were left behind 
at Grovno,” she explained, when her friends 
had thrust her unceremoniously into their 
only comfortable chair. 

‘‘I told General Alexis that I must find 
you at once, so we drove to the United 
States Embassy and they gave us your 
address. Then they left me here. I am 
dreadfully hungry; can’t we have some- 
thing to eat before I finish my story?” 

‘‘Certainly not,” Barbara insisted, “or 
not until you have answered two or three 
more questions. For I am much more 
apt to die of curiosity than you are to 
perish of starvation. How long did you 
remain at Grovno, and did the Germans 
ever capture you? I suppose your general 
didn’t die, if he escorted you to our humble 
door. But if he wasn’t desperately ill, 
why did he have you stay so long in a 
position of such danger?” And Barbara 
ceased to ask more questions simply be- 
cause her breath had given out. 

At the same instant Nona signaled a 


196 


With the Russian Army 


warning glance. Mildred was almost faint- 
ing with exhaustion. In these last few 
weeks she must have passed through diffi- 
cult experiences and naturally she could 
not tell them everything at once. 

Please go downstairs and ask that 
dinner be sent up, Barbara,” Nona de- 
manded. ‘‘And get soup or milk or 
something special; if not I’ll make some 
beef tea for Mildred on the alcohol lamp. 
Mildred, suppose you put on my wrapper 
and lie down until after you have eaten, 
then we can talk as long as you have 
strength for.” 

And the girls did talk until nearly mid- 
night in spite of Mildred’s fatigue. She was 
perfectly well, only tired, she insisted, and 
greatly excited at seeing Nona and Barbara 
again. 

She had passed through events in these 
past few weeks such as few women have 
ever known. But of course Mildred re- 
lated what had taken place in a simple, 
almost matter of fact fashion. She was so 
little given to heroics, or to thinking of 
herself as a conspicuous personage. 


Mildred’s Return 


197 


‘^Yes, they had stayed on at Grovno 
until almost the hour when the Germans 
entered the old fortress. General Alexis 
had been wounded, but had not considered 
his wound serious and would not desert his 
post until he had finally accomplished his 
purpose. For the last hour virtually only 
six persons had kept the German army 
from entering the fortifications : General 
Alexis, Colonel Feodorovitch, two lieu- 
tenants and two private soldiers, although 
the Russian physician, who had remained 
with his commander, had turned soldier 
toward the last.” 

‘‘But you don’t mean that you continued 
inside the fort to the very end.^” Barbara 
demanded almost angrily. “I suppose you 
were forgotten.” 

“I think I was at the last,” Mildred re- 
turned. “You see, at first when General 
Alexis discovered that I was the Red Cross 
nurse who had been chosen to stay behind, 
he was angry and insisted that I leave at 
once. But by the time he learned of my 
presence, it was too late to find me an escort. 
Besides, the doctor did not wish me to go. 


198 


With the Russian Army 


There was a Russian woman, a kind of 
servant, who was also with us, and did the 
cooking, I believe, if we ever ate. Anyhow, 
’ she stayed with me and looked after me 
when she could, so that I was never actually 
alone.” 

‘^But Mildred,” Nona asked, guessing at 
many details that her friend did not men- 
tion, ‘‘how did you finally get away at last? 
And have you come directly here from 
Grovno ? Surely the fort did not hold out 
all these weeks.” 

“No, we have been away from Grovno 
nearly two weeks, I can’t remember the 
exact passage of time very well,” Mildred 
explained, lifting her hands to let down the 
long braids of her heavy flaxen hair, and 
allowing the hairpins to drop girl fashion, 
carelessly into her lap. She was wearing 
Nona’s kimono, and it is always easier to 
talk confidentially with one’s hair down, if 
one happens to have the mass that Mildred 
had. The very weight of it was oppressive 
when she was tired. 

“Yes, it was terribly interesting toward 
the last,” she went on, “although I don’t 


Mildred’s Return 


199 


believe even then we were in great danger. 
General Alexis is too wise to have per- 
mitted that. Everything was in readi- 
ness; all the plans were made days before- 
hand for our getting away. The different 
regiments of private soldiers with their 
officers continued to march away from 
Grovno, and so much ammunition was moved 
that I think almost no stores of any value 
were left. Then the moment finally came 
for our own retreat.” 

To Barbara’s intense irritation, Mildred 
actually paused for an instant at this point 
in her story. But she continued almost 
immediately. 

‘‘There was an underground passage 
outside the fort, leading all the way to the 
river. The seven of us at last left the fort 
together. By this time General Alexis 
had almost to be carried, the pain from his 
wound had grown_^so intense. Then every 
once in a while, as we went on, one of the 
soldiers would place a bomb in such a 
position that it would explode after we 
had gone. In this way the underground 
passage was wrecked, so there never was 


200 


With the Russian Army 


any possibility of the Germans being able 
to follow us. When we reached the bridge 
over the river two motor cars were waiting 
for us. Colonel Feodorovitch, one of the 
lieutenants and the two private soldiers 
stayed to see that the last bridge over the 
Styr was blown up. The other five, Gen- 
eral Alexis, his physician, and one officer 
and we two women started west in an 
effort to join the retreating regiments, who 
were to come up with a portion of the 
Grand Duke’s army.” 

‘^Goodness, Mildred Thornton, what an 
experience you have been through!” Nona 
ejaculated. “Yet you talk as quietly as if 
it were almost an ordinary occurrence!” 

Mildred shook her head. “It is not be- 
cause I feel it an ordinary experience, 
Nona, but because so much has happened 
I am overpowered by the bigness of it. 
Really, when we got safely away from the 
fort, the battle, or at least my share in 
it, was only about to begin. We had gone 
a few miles into the country, when Gen- 
eral Alexis became desperately ill. Unless 
he could have immediate attention his 


Mildred’s Return 


201 


physician said there was no possible hope 
for his life.” 

Barbara had by this time slipped out of 
her chair and was sitting on the floor with 
her hands clasped over her knees, looking 
all eyes, and rocking herself slowly back 
and forward as a relief for her excitement. 

‘‘But you brought your general back 
with you, Mildred Thornton, or you said 
you did. How on earth did you manage 
about him.^” she interrupted. 

“That is just what I am going to tell you, 
because that explains where I have been 
and why I have not been able to let you 
hear from me. Our Russian doctor ordered 
our motor car stopped and we entered a 
Russian house some distance from any 
main road. We purposely chose a house 
that had been deserted, and there we have 
been for two weeks, struggling to save the 
life of General Alexis. Of course, his 
wound had been more serious than he 
would admit. The wonder is that he is 
still alive!” 

“But he has recovered.^” Barbara in- 
quired with her usual unsatisfied curiosity. 


202 


With the Russian Army 


‘‘Goodness, Mill, what a heroine you will 
be, to have nursed one of the most famous 
generals in the Allied armies and to have 
restored him to health. Won’t your mother 
be charmed!” 

Naturally Mildred smiled. The thought 
of her 'mother’s pleasure in her distinction 
had occurred to her several times in the 
last two weeks. 

“Oh, of course I am glad to have had the 
honor, Bab, because I too think General 
Alexis a great man. He is perhaps the 
simplest man I have ever known, except my 
father, and I like him very much. Only he 
has not recovered and I have not restored 
him to health. If General Alexis had re- 
covered he would never have come to 
Petrograd, he would have rejoined his 
troops. But he was well enough to be 
moved and Petrograd seemed the safest 
place for him at present. Besides, I believe 
he wished to have an audience with the 
Czar.” 

Barbara again rocked back and forth. 
“You say ‘Czar,’ Mill, just as if you were 
speaking of an everyday person. Really, 


Mildred’s Return 


203 


I believe you are the best bred girl I ever 
saw. Position, wealth, no distinctions 
seem to excite you. You just take people 
for exactly what they are,” Barbara mur- 
mured, in reality speaking to herself. 

But Nona overheard her. ‘‘You are 
quite right, Bab,” she agreed. “Mildred 
does not know it, but she has taught me 
many a lesson on that subject since we 
came to Europe. It would be a nicer world 
if everybody thought and acted as Mildred 
does. But what has become of your gen- 
eral, Mill? Are you to go on nursing him 
or to see him again?” 

“No, to the first question, Nona dear, 
and yes, to the second. Now I am so tired 
I simply must go to bed. I told the 
doctor and General Alexis that since he 
was better, I wanted to come to you. 
Besides, I was sure that here in Petrograd 
there would be so many cleverer nurses 
than I can ever hope to be. And I didn’t 
want to stay at the Winter Palace with 
you girls here.” 

“You mean,” Nona asked quietly, “that 
you were invited to be a guest at the Czar’s 
own palace and you declined?” 


204 


With the Russian Army 


Mildred clasped her hands behind her 
head. ‘‘Oh, I thought I told you. General 
Alexis is to be at the Winter Palace while 
he is in Petrograd. He is very close to the 
Czar, I believe. As his nurse, of course I 
was asked to stay there with him; he is to 
have his physician and his aides as well as 
his servants in attendance. There was 
nothing personal in my being permitted in- 
side the Palace. Some other nurse will 
take my place.” 

“But the point is, Mildred Thornton, 
that you refused to stay under the same 
roof with the Czar of all the Russias. Never 
so long as you live will your mother forgive 
you.” 

The other girl flushed and laughed. “I 
hadn’t thought of that, Bab dear. Please 
don’t tell on me. But we are to be under 
the same roof with the Czar some day for a 
few moments, all of us. General Alexis 
said that he wished to have us presented to 
the Czar and Czarina, if it were possible to 
arrange. He seems to feel grateful to me 
for the little I was able to do. But please, 
Bab, don’t say that I refused to continue to 


Mildred’s Return 


205 


nurse General Alexis. I only asked that 
they get some one to take my place, who 
would be wdser.” 

‘^Dld General Alexis agree to a new nurse 
for that reason, Mildred?” Barbara de- 
manded in her driest manner. 

But Mildred was too tired for further 
conversation. 

‘^Oh, he was kind enough to say that I 
needed a rest more than he required my 
services. Am I to have a bed or the cot in 
this sitting room?” 

“You may have them all^ Mildred Thorn- 
ton!” Barbara returned, getting up on her 
feet and then bowing until her forehead 
almost touched the floor. 

“Any human being who is going to allow 
me to enter the presence of the Czar and 
Czarina, has got to be treated like royalty 
for the rest of her life.” 

Nevertheless, Barbara kissed Mildred 
good night. Mildred whispered, “Don’t 
be a goose,” and then at last was permitted 
to retire. 


CHAPTER XV 


The Winter Palace 

T he next day Nona found oppor- 
tunity for confiding to Mildred 
the fate of Sonya Valesky. She 
found Mildred more deeply concerned than 
Barbara had been. This was true because 
Mildred had a different nature; it was 
easier for her to understand a tempera- 
ment that would sacrifice everything to its 
dream, than for the more practical and 
sensible Barbara. Moreover, Barbara was 
so much in love these days that she found 
it difficult to give a great deal of thought to 
other people. She struggled against the 
tendency, but it is ever the vice of lovers. 

Finally, on Thursday, Mildred Thornton 
received a note from General Alexis invit- 
ing her and her two friends to come that 
afternoon at four o’clock to the Winter 
Palace. And although the three girls were 
Americans, they understood that such an 
( 206 ) 


The Winter Palace 


207 


invitation was not in reality an invitation, 
but a command. For the Czar and Czar- 
ina had announced that they would be 
pleased to meet the three American Red 
Cross nurses. 

The meeting was to be informal, as these 
were war times and there were no court 
levees. Indeed, the Czar was only staying 
for a brief time at his palace before going to 
take command of his own troops. Owing 
to the frequent Russian defeats in the past 
few months, the Czar had concluded that 
he must command his men in person in 
order to give them greater courage and 
steadfastness. The munitions of war, of 
which they had been sadly in need for 
several months, were now pouring in from 
Japan and the United States. 

Of course, in the excitement and nervous- 
ness due to such an important and unex- 
pected occasion, the three Red Cross girls 
had the same problem to settle that attacks 
all women at critical moments : 

‘‘What on earth should they wear to the 
presentation?’’ 

Fortunately, under the circumstances 


208 


With the Russian Army 


there was but one answer to this question. 
They were invited to the Palace as Red 
Cross nurses,- they must therefore wear 
their Red Cross uniforms. Since the three 
girls had almost nothing else left in their 
wardrobes, this was just as well. Constant 
moving from place to place, with little 
opportunity for transportation, had re- 
duced their luggage to the most limited 
amounts. 

Yet assuredly they were as handsome 
and far more dignified on the afternoon of 
their appearance at the Winter Palace in 
the costumes of American Red Cross nurses, 
than if they had been appareled in the 
court trains and feathers of more gala 
occasions. 

Mildred always looked especially well 
in her uniform. She was less pretty 
than the other two girls. But for this very 
reason her dignity and the sense of serenity 
that her personality suggested showed to 
best advantage in the simple toilette of 
white with the Red Cross insignia on the 
arm. However, over her uniform Mildred 
wore the magnificent sable coat in which 


The Winter Palace 


209 


she had appeared at her friends’ lodgings in 
Petrograd. 

This afternoon, in spite of her excitement 
over what lay ahead of them, Barbara did 
not allow the coat to pass unnoticed a 
second time. ‘ 

‘Tor goodness’ sake, Mildred, where did 
you get that magnificent garment.^” she 
demanded, just as they were about to go 
downstairs to get into their sleigh. “You 
owned a very nice coat when we left you 
behind in Grovno, but some fairy wand 
must have changed it. This is the most 
wonderful sable I ever saw.” 

Mildred flushed and then laid her cheek 
against the beautiful, soft brown warmth 
of her furs. “It is time you and Nona 
were speaking of my grandeur,” she de- 
clared. “You see, in getting away from 
the fort at the last I stupidly left my own 
furs behind; indeed, I don’t know what 
became of them. General Alexis noticed 
that I was cold almost immediately. Some- 
how, after he began to get stronger, he man- 
aged to have this coat brought to the 
country house where we were staying. 


14 


i>rO With the Russian Army 


Then just before we started to Petrograd 
he presented it to me. Of course, I did not 
feel that I ought to accept it and insisted 
I could not. But General Alexis said that 
he had received so much kindness from me, 
he thought it very ungenerous of me to 
make him altogether my debtor. I didn’t 
know what to do. Do you think it wrong 
to accept it, Bab? Somehow I did not 
know how to continue to refuse.” 

As Barbara was just going into her bed- 
room at this moment, she made no reply. 
Nona was more reassuring. 

‘‘Of course it was all right, Mildred, or 
at least I suppose it was if General Alexis 
insisted, and you had done a great deal for 
him.” 

Then Nona followed Barbara. Barbara 
was standing perfectly still in the center of 
the room and apparently thinking with all 
the concentration possible. 

“I wonder if this General Alexis is more 
fond of Mildred than he would be of any 
nurse who might have cared for him?” 
Barbara murmured. Then she shook her 
head. “That was'^an absurd suggestion on 


The Winter Palace 


211 


my part and Mildred would not like It. I 
am sorry,” she said. 

At the door of the Winter Palace, after 
the girls had passed beyond the servants 
and the detectives who watch every human 
being permitted to approach their Imperial 
Majesties, the three American girls were 
ushered into a reception room. Except for 
the fact that there^were more paintings on 
the walls, the room resembled other similar 
chambers now left on exhibition at Ver- 
sailles or the Louvre in Paris. 

However, the girls had little time for 
investigation, for almost at once General 
Alexis entered the room to greet them. He 
was accompanied by a lieutenant who was 
his aide. To Nona Davis’ surprise, the 
young man proved to be Lieutenant Michael 
Orlaff, whom she had not seen since the 
afternoon when she had walked to the fort- 
ress with him and confided the news of 
Sonya Valesky’s arrest. 

After a few moments of general conversa- 
tion a man. servant, wearing an elaborate 
uniform, announced that General Alexis 
and his guests might walk into the Czar’s 
private sitting room. 


212 


With the Russian Army 


Naturally this was a very unusual pro- 
ceeding, but war times had changed the 
manners of courts as well as other places. 
Moreover, General Alexis was a personal 
friend of the. Czar’s, so far as a Czar may 
ever have a friend. In any case, he was 
one of his most trusted generals. This 
reception to the American Red Cross girls 
was entirely due to the fact that General 
Alexis had declared Mildred Thornton’s 
courage and devotion had saved his life. 
But of this she was not yet aware. 

The Czar and Czarina were not decorat- 
ing gilded thrones as one sees them in por- 
traits or paints them in one’s own imagina- 
tion. Indeed, they were seated in chairs, 
but rose as any other host and hostess 
might when their guests came into the room. 
They were not alone, however, for beside 
the guards stationed outside their door, 
two of them kept always within a short 
distance of the Czar himself. 

The Czarina was a beautiful woman, tall 
and dark, but looking infinitely sad. The 
girls could not but remember having heard 
how frequently she suffered from a melan- 


The Winter Palace 


213 


cholia so severe that it was almost akin 
to an unbalanced mind. 

She now murmured a few words to the 
three girls and then reseated herself. Bar- 
bara hoped profoundly that the distin- 
guished audience would soon be over. Of 
course, this meeting of the Czar and Czar- 
ina was perhaps the most extraordinary 
honor that had yet been paid to any Amer- 
ican Red Cross nurses in Europe. But like 
other honors, it carried its discomfort. For 
Barbara had not the faintest idea what she 
should do or say, when she should stand up 
and when sit down. She had never imag- 
ined herself a large person before, but now 
she felt so awkward that she might have 
been a giant. Yet really there was but one 
thing for her to do: she must merely keep 
still and watch what was taking place. 

Actually the Czar, Nicholas II, was talk- 
ing pleasantly with Mildred Thornton, and 
Mildred was answering with her usual 
quiet dignity. 

The Czar looked older than Barbara 
would have supposed from his pictures. 
But then the war may have aged him. His 


214 


With the Russian Army 


close-cropped brown beard with the tiny 
point was turning gray. And he had large, 
full and, Barbara thought, not particularly 
intelligent eyes. 

At this moment he moved toward a small 
table and picked up what appeared like a 
medal. 

Barbara eyed it curiously. She could 
not hear what the Czar was saying. But 
she saw Mildred turn suddenly white and 
appear to protest. Then the two men. 
General Alexis and the Czar, actually smiled 
at her. The next moment the Czar pinned 
a cross on Mildred’s white dress. 

Without realizing what she was doing, 
Barbara pressed closer until she stood in 
front of Nona and Lieutenant Orlaff. This 
time she distinctly heard the Czar say: 

‘‘I take pleasure in presenting you. Miss 
Thornton, with the Cross of St. George, 
which is only awarded for special bravery. 
Only one other Vv^oman has been presented 
with the Cross of St. George since the out- 
break of this war. She is Madame Koka- 
vtseva, a colonel of the Sixth Ural Cossack 
Regiment, who has twice been wounded 


The Winter Palace 


215 


while leading her men. She is called our 
^Russian Joan of Arc.’ But there is a cour- 
age as great as leading troops to battle. , 
This valor, it seems to me, you showed in * 
remaining to' the last at the ancient fortress 
of Grovno to care for a great soldier who 
was not even your countryman. In my 
own name and in the name of my coun- 
try, I wish to thank you for your service 
to General Alexis.” 

Then Barbara observed Mildred flush a 
beautiful, warm crimson, and stammer 
something in response. Almost immedi- 
ately after they were again standing out- 
side in the big antechamber. 

Afterwards General Alexis and Lieu- 
tenant Orlaflf and several of the palace 
servants showed the three girls over certain 
portions, of the palace that could be exhib- 
ited to visitors. On the desk in the hall 
was an ikon, carefully preserved under glass, 
which was said to have been painted by 
St. Luke. 

However, in spite of their honors, as soon 
as possible the three girls were glad to 
return to their lodgings. Yet Mildred 


216 


With the Russian Army 


promised that they would allow General 
Alexis to send his sleigh to them the follow- 
ing day. The great general looked haggard 
and worn, but appeared to be quickly re- 
covering his strength. Indeed, Barbara 
afterwards assured Mildred that she con- 
sidered him extremely good looking and not 
half so old as she had supposed. 


CHAPTER XVI 


The Unexpected Happens 

O NE afternoon a short time after the 
visit to the Winter Palace, General 
Alexis and Lieutenant Orlaff came 
to the girls’ lodgings to have a drive in the 
sleigh with them. 

It was a cold, brilliant afternoon, and 
they were to undertake a more interesting 
excursion than usual. Nevertheless, Bar- 
bara Meade refused to go. 

There were letters which she must write, 
she pleaded. However, this was not Bar- 
bara’s real reason: that fact she kept in 
her own head. Both Mildred and Nona 
she assisted to get ready, insisting that 
they both dress as warmly as possible, no 
matter how stuffy they might feel before 
starting. 

^‘You are both blondes and a blonde is 
never so homely as when she is cold,” she 
added sententiously, '‘for her face is much 

( 217 ) 


218 


With the Russian Army 


more apt to get blue than red, except the 
end of her nose.” 

Mildred had purchased a lovely fur hat 
to match her sable coat. And in spite of 
her poverty Nona had been unable to resist 
a set of black fox. Furs were so much 
cheaper in Russia than in the United States 
that it really almost seemed one’s duty to 
buy them. 

When General Alexis’ sleigh arrived, 
Barbara would not even go downstairs to 
see the others start. But she managed by 
pressing her nose against the window to 
observe that the arrangements for the drive 
were satisfactory. 

The sleigh was a beautiful one, built 
of mahogany, and the pair of horses wore 
real silver mountings on their harness. 

A driver, in the Imperial livery, sat upon 
the front seat with a man beside him, who 
acted as a private guard for General Alexis, 
although he wore citizen’s clothes. There 
was far less danger of anarchy in Russia 
during war times; nevertheless, men in 
public positions in Russia were always 
watchful of trouble from fanatics. 


The Unexpected Happens 219 


Therefore, General Alexis and Mildred 
were together in the middle seat, while 
Nona and Lieutenant Orlaff occupied the 
one back of them. 

Then the sleigh started off so quickly 
that it had disappeared before Barbara 
realized it. Afterwards, with feminine in- 
consistency, she turned back into their 
small sitting room, frowning and sighing. 

‘‘I do wish I had gone along, after all. 
There wasn’t any place for me, except to 
sit either between Mildred and General 
Alexis, or Nona and her Russian lieutenant. 
Then nobody would have had a good time. 
Still, perhaps I should have stuck close to 
Mildred; she is almost my sister. And 
though Mrs. Thornton might be pleased. 
Judge Thornton and Dick would be 
wretched. Russia is so far away and so 
cold.” 

Then Barbara made no further explana- 
tion, even to herself, of her enigmatic 
state of mind, but fell to writing letters as 
she had planned. Some thought she de- 
voted to what she should write Dick about 
his sister’s friend, the distinguished Rus- 


220 


With the Russian Army 


sian general. But whatever she planned 
sounded either too pointed or else had no 
point at all. So she merely closed her 
letter by explaining that the others had ^ 
gone for a ride and that General Alexis 
appeared extremely grateful to Mildred for 
her care of him in his illness. She also 
mentioned that she personally liked the 
distinguished soldier very much and that 
he was not nearly so foreign as one might 
expect. 

This was not a sensible statement, for 
General Alexis could scarcely have been 
more of a Russian than he was. A foreigner, 
of course, simply is an individual who be- 
longs to another country than one’s own. - 
Presumably an American is equally a for- 
eigner to a European. What Barbara 
actually meant was that General Alexis 
was not unlike the men to whom she had 
been accustomed in the United States. He 
had the courtesy and quiet dignity of the 
most distinguished of her own countrymen. 
There was nothing particularly oriental 
about him or his attitude to women. The 
truth is that Barbara did not appreciate 


The Unexpected Happens 221 


the fact that General Alexis was too cos- 
mopolitan to show many of the peculiari- 
ties of his race. He had seen too much of 
the world and studied and thought too 
deeply. Besides, he was a man of real 
gentleness and simplicity. 

As Mildred rode beside him, she too was 
wondering why she felt so at ease with so 
great a person. Why, at home, in New 
York society, she had always been awk- 
ward and tongue-tied with the most ordi- 
nary young man worthy of no thought. 
Now she was telling General Alexis the 
entire story of Sonya Valesky as she might 
have told it to her own father. And she 
felt equally sure of his sympathy and under- 
standing. General Alexis would, of course, 
have no political sympathy with Sonya’s 
ideas. He was a soldier devoted to his 
Czar and his country, while in his opinion 
Sonya could only be regarded as mistaken 
and dangerous. But Mildred knew that 
he would be sorry for Sonya, the woman, 
and sorry for them as her friends. 

So she described their original meeting 
on board the ‘‘Philadelphia,” and the sus- 


222 


With the Russian Army 


picion, then wrongfully directed against 
Sonya, who was at that time using the name 
of Lady Dorian. Afterwards she told of 
Sonya’s appearance at the Sacred Heart 
Hospital and her work there. Last of all, 
of their unexpected coming together in 
Russia and of the peculiar bond between 
Nona Davis and the Russian woman. 

At the beginning of her conversation 
with General Alexis, Mildred had no idea 
in mind, except to tell the story that had 
been weighing heavily upon her since Nona’s 
confidence. Ever since she had seen the 
picture of Sonya, as Nona had last seen her, 
the beautiful woman with her too-soon 
white hair and the haunting beauty of her 
tragic blue eyes. She, a woman of rare 
refinement and not yet forty, to spend the 
rest of her life working among the convicts 
in Siberia. It was as if she were buried 
alive ! 

Suddenly it occurred to Mildred that she 
might ask the advice of General Alexis. 
She did not believe it possible that any- 
thing could be done for Sonya Valesky 
now, after her sentence had been passed. 


The Unexpected Happens 223 


But still it would be well to feel they had 
tried all that was possible. 

^‘You don’t think, General, that there is 
anything that could be done to have Sonya 
Valesky pardoned, do you?” she inquired, 
with unconscious wistfulness. ^‘You see, 
my friend, Nona Davis, wants so much to 
take Madame Valesky back to the United 
States with her. Then neither she nor her 
ideas would be of any more danger to Rus- 
sia. Nona says Madame Valesky is much 
broken by her illness and confinement. 
She had a terrible attack of fever only a 
short time before. Probably she won’t 
live very long, if she is taken to Siberia.” 

Then, to hide her tears from her compan- 
ion, Mildred turned her head aside. Gen- 
eral Alexis seemed to be staring at her very 
steadfastly. But fortunately the beauty of 
the landscape surrounding them gave her an 
excuse for the movement. 

They had crossed the Nicholas bridge 
and were driving out among the parks and 
estates that cover the small islands, set like 
jewels among the white fastness of the 
river Neva. Here and there the river was 


224 


With the Russian Army 


solid ice, in other places the thin ice was 
decorated with a light coating of snow. 

The handsome private homes of Petro- 
grad are situated in these island suburbs. 
Beautiful trees and lawns come down to 
the water’s edge. But today they too were 
snow sprinkled and most of the homes were 
closed. 

Mildred attempted to pretend that her 
attention had been attracted by one of 
these houses, built like a glorified Swiss 
chalet. 

But General Alexis continued to gaze at 
the side of her cheek and Mildred was pain- 
fully conscious that the tears might at any 
moment slide out of her eyes. 

‘‘You care very much about this woman, 
this Sonya Valesky, Miss Thornton.^” Gen- 
eral Alexis inquired. “You say that she is 
a friend of yours and that it will bring you 
great distress if she must suffer the penalty 
of her mistakes.^ I do not wish you to 
leave Russia in unhappiness.” 

Mildred slowly shook her head. Had 
she been almost any other girl, she would 
have seen nothing to deny in her com- 


The Unexpected Happens 225 


panion’s last speech. But Mildred had the 
spirit of entire truthfulness that belongs to 
only a few natures. 

‘‘No, I cannot say that Madame Val- 
esky is exactly my friend,” she answered 
slowly. “I do not know her very well, but 
I think I should care for her a great deal if 
we could know ieach other better. Perhaps 
she was altogether wrong; anyhow, I do 
not think she should have attempted to 
persuade the Russians not to fight for their 
country at a time like this. Yet when one 
has seen the horrible, the almost useless 
suffering that I have seen in these few years ' 
I have been acting as a Red Cross nurse, 
well, one can hardly condemn a human 
being who believes in peace. Still, Madame 
Valesky is in reality more Nona’s friend 
than mine.” 

Pausing abruptly, Mildred again turned 
her face to look at the soldier beside her. 
She had been tactless as usual in thus ex- 
pressing her feelings about peace to a man 
who was a great warrior. But General 
Alexis did not appear angry. Indeed, 
there was no disagreement in the expression 


15 


226 


With the Russian Army 


of his eyes, it was almost as if he too felt 
as Mildred did. Besides, his next words 
were: 

too appreciate what you feel. Miss 
Thornton, and I too am sorry for this Sonya 
Valesky. War is a great, a terrible evil, 
and there was never a time when the world 
so realized it as it does now. It is my 
hourly prayer that, after this vast blood- 
shed, war shall vanish from the face of the 
earth. But this will not happen if we give 
up the fight while we are in the thick of it. 
So Madame Valesky was wrong, so wrong 
that I might think she deserved her fate, 
if I did not feel her more mistaken than 
wicked.” 

General Alexis paused and his face grew 
suddenly lined and thoughtful, as Mildred 
had seen it in those days at Grovno. Of 
what he was thinking the girl did not 
dream, but neither would she wish to have 
intruded upon his train of thought. 

So she sat quite still with her hands 
folded under the heavy fur rug and her 
gray-blue eyes fastened on the snow-covered 
landscape. Mildred had grown handsomer 


The Unexpected Happens 227 


since her coming to Europe. She would 
never be beautiful in the ordinary accept- 
ance of the term. But she was the type of 
girl who becomes handsomer as she grows 
older, when character which makes the real 
beauty of a woman’s face had a chance to 
reveal itself. Already a great deal of her 
awkwardness and angularity had disap- 
peared with the self-confidence, or rather 
more the self-forgetfulness which her work 
had given her. Her eyes had a deeper, less 
unsatisfied expression and her always hand- 
some mouth more humor. For her own 
experiences and the friendship with the 
three other American Red Cross nurses 
had taught her to see many things in truer 
proportion. 

‘‘Miss Thornton,” Mildred’s attention 
was again aroused by her companion, “I 
want to tell you something, but I want you 
to promise me you will not have too much 
hope in consequence. I have been thinking 
of this Sonya Valesky. I believe I can 
remember her father, or if not her father 
himself, at least I knew him by reputation. 
He did not share his daughter’s views, but 


228 


With the Russian Army 


was the faithful servant of the present 
Czar’s father. Moreover, the Czar is my 
friend, so I mean to tell him the story of 
Sonya Valesky and see if he will pardon her. 
She must, of course, leave Russia, perhaps 
never to return.” 

General Alexis had been In a measure 
thinking aloud. But now Mildred’s sud- 
den exclamation of happiness made his eyes 
soften into a look of kindliness that again 
reminded the girl of her father. 

“But, my child, you must not hope too 
much,” he remonstrated. “The Czar may 
not feel as I do about your friend. After 
your service to me there is little you could 
desire which I would not wish to give you.” 

One would never have thought of Gen- 
eral Alexis as a great soldier at this mo- 
ment. The heavy lines of his face had gone. 
There was no sternness about his mouth. 
His eyes, which were so surprisingly blue 
because of his other dark coloring, gazed 
at Mildred’s until for an instant she dropped 
the lids over her own, feeling embarrassed 
without exactly knowing why. 

The next moment she looked directly at 


The Unexpected Happens 229 


the man, whom she felt sure was her friend, 
in spite of the differences in their ages, 
their rank and their countries. 

‘‘General Alexis, I am going to ask you 
to do me a favor — no, I don’t mean about 
Sonya this time. I shall be more grateful 
than I can even try to say for that kind- 
ness. But this is something which does 
not concern anyone except just you and me. 
Will you never in the future speak or 
think of the service which you are good 
enough to say I have rendered you.” 
Actually, Mildred was now twisting her 
hands together in the old nervous fashion 
which she thought she had overcome. “It 
\s difficult for me to say things,” she went 
on, “but I want you to know that the 
greatest honor I shall ever have in my life 
was the privilege of nursing you. If I did 
help make you well, why I am so happy 
and proud the favor is on my side and not 
yours.” And Mildred ended with a slight 
gasp, feeling her cheeks burning in spite of 
the cold, so unaccustomed was she to 
making long speeches or to revealing her 
emotions. 


j230 With the Russian Army 


‘^Miss Thornton,” General Alexis re- 
turned. Then instead of finishing his 
sentence he leaned over and touched his 
coachman. 

‘^Stop the sleigh for a moment. We are 
growing cold. It will be better for us to 
walk for ten or fifteen minutes and then 
come back to the sleigh.” Again he spoke 
to Mildred. 

‘‘You will come with me for a little?” 
he asked. “It will be wiser for you not 
to grow stiff with sitting still.” After- 
wards he said something to Lieutenant 
Orlaff, to which he and Nona agreed. 

Five minutes later Mildred was walking 
across the snow toward the river, with her 
hand resting on General Alexis’ arm. She 
was colder than she had imagined and it 
was difficult to walk over the icy and 
unfamiliar ground. 

But suddenly she stopped and gave an 
exclamation of surprise and delight which 
was almost one of awe. 

She and General Alexis were alone. 
Nona and Lieutenant Orlaff had walked off 
in an opposite direction. But Mildred 


The Unexpected Happens 231 


now beheld the sun setting upon the Rus- 
sian capital. Beneath, the world was pure 
white, and above, the sky a glory of orange 
and purple and rose. Between the two, 
suspended like giant fairy balls, were the 
great domes of Petrograd’s many churches. 

‘‘I shall never, never forget that picture 
so long as I live. It will stay with me as 
my vision of Petrograd long after I have 
gone home to my own country,” Mildred 
said simply. Then she stopped in her walk 
and held out her hand. ‘‘Thank you for 
this afternoon.” 

General Alexis did not release the girl’s 
hand. Instead he lifted it to his lips and 
kissed it, although the hand was covered 
with a heavy glove. 

Then he smiled at Mildred almost boy- 
ishly. “I want to say something to you. 
Miss Thornton, which I suppose a woman 
does not really mind hearing, no matter to 
what country she belongs or what her 
answer may be. In these weeks I have 
known you I have come to care for you 
very deeply. I am old enough perhaps to 
be your father. I have said this to myself 


232 


With the Russian Army 


a hundred times and that it ought to make 
my feeling impossible. It has not. Nat- 
urally I understand that my age may make 
it impossible for you to return my affection, 
but it has not made the difference with me. 
I love you, Mildred. I have known many 
women, but have never met one so fine and 
sweet as you. It is the custom of your 
country when a man cares for a woman to 
tell her so, is it not, or perhaps I should 
have written first to your father?” 

General Alexis’ manner was so naive, 
almost as if he had been a boy instead of 
one of the most distinguished men in 
Europe. Mildred could almost have smiled 
if she had not been so overwhelmed by his 
speech. 

‘‘Was General Alexis actually saying that 
he was in love with her? No one had ever 
proposed to her in her life and she had 
never expected that any one would care 
sufficiently. But that the words should 
come from the man whom she felt to be a 
genius and a hero! No wonder Mildred 
was speechless for a moment. 

“General Alexis, I have never dreamed of 


The Unexpected Happens 233 


anything like this. I only hoped at the 
'most that you were my friend,” she an- 
swered a little later. ‘^Really, I don’t 
know — I can’t say how I feel. I appreciate 
the honor, but Russia is so far away, and 
my father ” 

‘‘Yes, I know,” General Alexis inter- 
rupted. “Do you not suppose I have 
thought over all those things? Until this 
war is past I shall not even ask you to be- 
come my wife. My life belongs to my coun- 
try and I would not have you alone here in 
a foreign land. All I ask is that I may 
write you and some day in happier times 
may I come to see my American friend?” 

Mildred could only nod and let General 
[Alexis keep tight hold of her hand, while a 
sense of the warmth and sweetness of the 
affection of a big nature slowly enveloped 
her. 

Then, as they walked back to the sleigh 
in silence and continued in silence almost 
all the way back to the lodgings, Mildred 
could only keep thinking how much her 
father would like General Alexis. Once 
she smiled, because her next thought was 


234 


With the Russian Army 


how immensely pleased and impressed her 
mother would be. It seemed impossible 
that the plain and unattractive Mildred 
could have captured so distinguished an 
admirer. 

Late that night, as she lay awake, Nona 
Davis’ voice suddenly broke the stillness. 
The two girls were in the single bedroom, 
Barbara occupying a lounge in the sitting 
room. 

‘‘There is something I want to tell you, 
Mildred. The strangest thing happened 
to me this afternoon. Lieutenant Orlaif 
proposed to me. Why, I scarcely know him 
at all, but he says that is not necessary 
when a foreigner meets an American girl,” 
Nona confided. 

“You — ^why, Nona!” Mildred faltered, 
too surprised for the moment to answer in- 
telligently, because her friend’s speech so 
oddly fitted into her own thoughts. “Did 
you accept him?” 

It was dark in the room, and yet Mildred 
could see that Nona had risen half way up 
in bed. 

“My gracious, no!” she ejaculated. “In 


The Unexpected Happens 235 


the first place, I don’t care for him at all, 
and in the second, I just want to get hold of 
my dear Sonya and return home to the 
United States. If your general does have 
her pardoned I shall say prayers for him 
every night of my life. Funny, but I be- 
lieve I am afraid of Russia, even though 
I am half Russian. Still, my mother did 
prefer to come to America to live. I simply 
couldn’t bear living in Russia always, could 
you, Mildred?” Nona ended, as she again 
dropped back on her pillow. 

But Mildred only answered, ‘‘I don’t 
know,” which was not in the least con- 
clusive. 


CHAPTER XVII 


The Departure 

F our days later the three American 
girls left Petrograd. This was sooner 
than they had expected to leave, but 
a desirable opportunity arose for them to 
get safely across the continent and into 
France. 

The journey was a long and tiresome one, 
as they had to cross the northern countries 
of Finland, Sweden and Norway until 
finally they were able to reach Holland, and 
thence journey to England and France. 
But it was not possible to make the trip in 
any other way, since all of southern Europe 
was engaged in active fighting. 

However, the Red Cross girls did not 
travel alone. Sonya Valesky went with 
them. At General Alexis’ request the Czar 
had pardoned her, but she was an exile 
from Russia forever, never to return at any 
future time. 


( 236 ) 


The Departure 


237 


Fortunately for the imprisoned woman, 
her reprieve had come before her sentence 
had time to be carried out. She was 
brought directly from the prison, where 
Nona had once visited her, to the lodgings 
where the American girls were making ready 
to depart. 

If Sonya regretted the terms of her 
pardon, she showed no signs of sorrow. 
But she was strangely quiet then and during 
the long, cold trip across the continent. In 
a measure she seemed to have been crushed 
by the weeks of solitary confinement in 
the Russian jail with the prospect of Si- 
beria ever before her. Often she would sit 
for hours with her hands crossed in her lap 
and her eyes staring out the window, with- 
out seeming to see anything in the land- 
scape. One could scarcely imagine her as 
a woman who had devoted her life to 
traveling from one land to another, trying 
to persuade men and women to believe in 
universal peace. 

Yet she was sincerely grateful and appre- 
ciative of any attention of affection from the 
three American girls who were her com- 


238 


With the Russian Army 


panions. And after a short time Barbara 
and Mildred were almost as completely 
under the spell of this grave woman’s charm, 
as Nona had grown to be. Moreover, the 
girls felt that she had not yet recovered 
from her illness, because of the hardships 
following it. After a few weeks or months 
in the beloved ‘^Farmhouse with the Blue 
Front Door” perhaps she would become 
more cheerful. 

For it was toward the chateau country of 
France that the three American girls were 
again traveling. The little house where 
they had once lived for a winter had been 
Captain Castaigne’s wedding gift to Eu- 
genia. Since Eugenia was away nursing 
in a hospital she had offered her home to 
her friends. Madame Castaigne had also 
insisted that they come to her at the cha- 
teau; nevertheless, the girls had chosen the 
farmhouse. 

The Countess was no longer young, and 
still had no servants save old Francois. 
The work of entertaining four guests, and 
one of them a stranger, would have put too 
great a tax upon her. Moreover, Eugenia 


The Departure 


239 


would undoubtedly come back for a while 
to be with her friends and would naturally 
stay with her mother-in-law. The girls 
also hoped that Captain Castaigne might 
be spared for a short leave of absence. 
However, in order that the Countess Ame- 
lie should not be wounded, or feel that the 
girls no longer cared to be with her, Bar- 
bara had written to say that she would stay 
at the chateau whenever the Countess 
wished her society. 

Certainly the trip from Russia into 
France during war times was a difficult one. 
The girls believed that they could not have 
made it, except that now and then they 
stopped for a day or more to rest. On these 
days Barbara and Nona used to spend at 
least a few hours in sightseeing, no matter 
what their fatigue. Now and then Mildred 
would go with them, but never Sonya. 
Occasionally Nona would urge her, saying 
that the exercise and change of atmosphere 
would be good for her. But Sonya used 
always to plead fatigue or a lack of interest. 
Finally she confessed frankly that she had 
seen most of these cities and countries 


240 


With the Russian Army 


before, and in some of them was fairly well 
known. Therefore it might be safer and 
happier for all of them if she remained 
quietly in whatever hotel they happened to 
be staying. 

Yet Sonya appeared almost as anxious as 
her three companions to reach France and 
the ‘‘Farmhouse with the Blue Front Door.” 
This, of course, was because the three girls 
had talked of it so continuously and the 
longed for meeting with Eugenia again. 
For somehow, although the farmhouse was 
in a war-stained country, its name suggested 
quiet and a brooding peace. 

Nevertheless, several times, after men- 
tioning Eugenia’s name, Nona had observed 
Sonya’s face flush and the expression of her 
eyes become almost apologetic. At first 
she was unable to understand this and then 
she remembered. 

In the early days Eugenia had not liked 
their friendship with the woman who was 
then calling herself Lady Dorian. Indeed, 
in Eugenia fashion she had frankly stated 
this fact to the older woman. Now how 
much less might she care for their intimacy 


The Departure 


241 


with the exiled Russian. Yet Sonya was 
going as an uninvited guest to Eugenia’s 
home. 

There had been no time to ask per- 
mission. It was true Barbara had written 
the entire story to Eugenia as soon as Sonya 
Valesky was released from prison. But one 
could not tell whether the letter would 
reach France as soon as the four travelers. 

Nona felt that she would have given a 
great deal to have assured Sonya of Eu- 
genia’s welcome, but she was nervous over 
the situation herself. 

Of course, Eugenia would be kind to the 
exiled woman and offer her hospitality and 
care. But Eugenia had rigid views of life 
and was not given to concealing them. It 
was more than possible that she might let 
Sonya know of her disapproval. More- 
over, she might object to Nona’s own 
championship of Sonya and to her purpose 
to return with her to the United States and 
there make their future home together. 

Of course, no views of Eugenia’s would 
interfere with this intention of Nona’s. 
But the younger girl would be sorry of 


16 


242 


With the Russian Army 


Eugenia’s disapproval, since she too had 
learned to have the greatest affection and 
admiration for the oldest of the four Amer- 
ican Red Cross girls. However, there was 
nothing to do except to wait and meet the 
situation when the time came. 

Actually it was a month between the day 
of leaving Petrograd and the day when the 
four travelers arrived in southern France 
in the neighborhood of the Chateau d’Ame- 
lie. But this was because the girls and 
Sonya had spent some little time in London 
before attempting to cross the channel. 

London was a delightful experience for 
the three American Red Cross girls. In 
some fashion the story of their varied ser- 
vice to the Allied cause had reached the 
London newspapers. For several days there 
were columns devoted to their praise. 
Later, invitations poured in upon them 
from every direction. Mildred was most 
conspicuous, since the story of her presenta- 
tion by the Czar with the Cross of St. 
George was copied from the Russian news- 
papers into the English, and must have 
ultimately reached the United States press. 


The Departure 


243 


But the girls were not thinking of them- 
selves or their work. They simply gave 
themselves up to the pleasure of meeting 
delightful English people and being enter- 
tained by them. Sonya would not go 
about with them, but appeared stronger 
and more content, so there was no point in 
worrying over her. 

One of the English women, who was 
again gracious to the three American girls, 
was the Countess of Sussex, at whose home 
they had spent a week-end on their first 
arrival in England several years before. 
Once more she invited them to her coun- 
try home, but this time it was impossible 
for the girls to accept her invitation. How- 
ever, Nona recalled her meeting in the old 
rose garden near the gardener’s cottage with 
Lieutenant Robert Hume. She also thought 
of Lieutenant Hume’s last letter telling her 
that he had been sent back to England as 
an exchanged prisoner because of his health. 
But when Nona inquired for the young 
English lieutenant, the Countess’ expression 
checked further curiosity. 

Suddenly she appeared very unhappy 
and distressed. 


244 


With the Russian Army 


‘‘Robert is not in England,” she said 
hastily. “He has been sent away to try 
to recover, but we do not dare hope too 
much.” 

At the moment Nona did not feel that 
she had the courage to ask where the young 
man had gone nor from what he was trying 
to recover. 

Actually it was one afternoon in late Feb- 
ruary, when the three Red Cross girls and 
Sonya came at last to the village of Le 
Pretre, near the forest of the same name. 

There they found old Francois awaiting 
them in a carriage that must have belonged 
to the Second Empire. It was toward 
twilight and on a February afternoon, yet 
after the cold of the northern countries 
where the girls had been for the past winter, 
the atmosphere had the appeal of spring. 
It was not warm, yet there was a gentleness 
in the air and a suggestion of green on the 
bare branches of the trees. 

Francois drove them in state to the little 
“Farmhouse with the Blue Front Door.” 
But this afternoon the door was standing 
open and on the threshold was Madame, 


The Departure 


245 


the Countess, with both white hands ex- 
tended in welcome. 

She wore the same black dress and the 
same point of lace over her white hair. 
And by her side stood Monsieur Le Due, 
more solemn and splendid than ever and as 
gravely welcoming of his guests as the 
Countess herself. 

Madame explained that Eugenia had 
been unable to leave the hospital to be at 
home to greet her friends, but hoped to see 
them in a few days. In the meantime they 
were to feel more than welcome in the farm- 
house and in the old chateau, when they 
cared to come to her there. 

Then the Countess said good-by and 
allowed Francois to take her home. She 
knew that her guests were weary and her 
courtesy was too perfect to permit herself 
the privilege of a longer conversation, no 
matter how much she might be yearning 
for companionship. 

The little house Itself was warm and light 
with welcome.] There was a fire in the liv- 
ing room and the four beds upstairs smelled 
of lavender and roses. 


246 


With the Russian Army 


The girls took their old rooms, excepi 
that Sonya was allotted the bedroom that 
had once been Eugenia’s. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A Poem and a Conversation 

N ot the next day, but the one follow- 
ing, Barbara and Mildred walked 
over to the old chateau together. 
Nona did not go with them, as Sonya 
did not appear to be well and she did not 
wish to leave her. So she sent a message 
of explanation to the Countess Amelie, say- 
ing that she hoped to be able to call upon 
her very soon. 

It chanced that Sonya did not know of 
Nona’s decision. She was lying down when 
the girls went away and believed she had 
the little house to herself. Really she was 
not ill, only tired and perhaps happier than 
she had been in a long time. It is true that 
she had confessed herself defeated and that 
there was no longer any Illusion in her own 
mind. Perhaps so long as she lived, war 
and not peace would flourish upon the earth. 
But the world learns its lessons in strange 

( 247 ) 


248 


With the Russian Army 


and dreadful ways and perchance peace 
might be born in the end from the horror 
and waste of bloodshed. 

By and by, when she felt more rested, 
Sonya got up and went down into the old 
dining room of the farmhouse, which the 
girls had made into their living room. There 
was a possibility that the fire might be dy- 
ing out and it would be wise to replenish it. 

To her surprise Sonya discovered Nona 
curled up in a chair by the window, reading. 

The older woman no longer wore black; 
it had become too depressing in a continent 
where more than half of the women were in 
mourning. She had on a simple frock of a 
curious Russian blue, made almost like a 
monk’s cowl, with a heavy blue cord knotted 
about her waist. 

Nona stared at her friend for a moment 
in silence. It was curious that whatever 
costume Sonya Valesky wore seemed to 
have been created for her. Nona recalled 
the beauty of her clothes in their first meet- 
ing on shipboard, yet they held no greater 
distinction than this simple dress. Well, 
perhaps personality is the strongest force in 


A Poem and a Conversation 249 


the world and Sonya Valesky’s distinction, 
whatever her mistakes, lay in this. 

She now walked across the room and put 
a few of Francois’ precious pine logs on the 
fire. 

At this Nona stirred. Don’t trouble to 
do that, Sonya; I meant to In another 
minute. I thought you were III upstairs.” 

Sonya shook her head. ‘‘I am not in the 
least ill and you are please to stop worry- 
ing about me, Nona. I thought you had 
gone with your friends to the chateau. 
What has kept you at home ? ” 

The younger girl answered vaguely, not 
caring to confess her real motive, since 
her companion would have been distressed 
by It. 

‘‘If you are all right, Sonya, suppose you 
stay down here in the living room with me. 
I have just found a wonderful poem in an 
American magazine which I meant to save 
to read to you. Somehow I think it may 
comfort you. For it shows that there is a 
big design in this old universe, which works 
itself out somehow. In spite of all the trage- 
dies and failures of human beings.” 


250 


With the Russian Army 


In a big chair in the half shadow Sonya 
sat down, folding her hands together loosely 
in her lap. It was a fashion which had 
come to be almost a habit with her recently. 
Curious that it should express a kind of 
resignation ! 

Nona began reading at once. ‘‘The poem 
is called ‘At the Last’ and is by George 
Sterling, a Californian, I believe. 

“Now steel-hoofed War is loosened on the world, 
With rapine and destruction, as the smoke 
From ashen farm and city soils the sky. 

Earth reeks. The camp is where the vineyard was. 
The flocks are gone. The rains are on the hearth. 
And trampled Europe knows the winter near. 
Orchards go down. Home and cathedral fall 
In ruin, and the blackened provinces 
Reach on to drear horizons. Soon the snow 
Shall cover all, and soon be stained with red, 

A quagmire and a shambles, and ere long 
Shall cold and hunger dice for helpless lives. 

So man gone mad, despoils the gentle earth 
And wages war on beauty and on good. 

And yet I know how brief the reign shall be 
Of Desolation. But a little while. 

And time shall heal the desecrated lands. 

The quenchless fire of life shall take its own, 


A Poem and a Conversation 251 


The waters of renewal spring again. 

Quiet shall come, a flood of verdure clothe 
The fields misused. The vine and tree once more 
Shall bloom beside the trench, and humble roofs 
Cover again the cradle and the bed. 

Yea! Life shall have her way with us, until 
The past is dim with legend, and the days 
That now in nightmare brood upon the world 
Shall fold themselves in purples of romance, 

The peace shall come, so sure as ripples end 
And crystalline tranquillity returns 
Above a pebble cast into a pool.” 

When Nona had finished neither she nor 
her companion made any comment for a 
moment. 

Yet when the girl looked across at the 
older woman for her opinion, she discov- 
ered that Sonya’s cheeks had flushed and 
that her eyes were shining. 

“Thank you, Nona; I shall not forget 
that,” she then said, repeating to her- 
self, “ ‘The peace shall' come, so sure as 
ripples end.’ I suppose the trouble is we 
have not faith and patience enough to be- 
lieve that love and peace must triumph 
before God’s plan can be worked out.” 

Then Sonya got up. “Come, Nona,” 


252 


With the Russian Army 


she suggested. “Don’t you think it would 
be more agreeable to take a walk. It is 
really a lovely afternoon and I’ve some 
things I wish to talk to you about. Be- 
sides, I want to see the woods you girls 
have told me of.” 

It was delicious outdoors and Nona and 
Sonya both forgot their serious mood of a 
little while before. One could not be al- 
ways serious even in war times in so lovely 
a land as southern France. No wonder the 
French nation is gay; it is their method of 
showing their gratitude for the country 
that gave them birth. 

Finally the woman and girl reached the 
pool in the woods which Nona had once 
named “the pool of Melisande,” and Eu- 
genia had afterwards called “the pool of 
truth.” However, since in Maeterlinck’s 
play Melisande was seeking the light in the 
depth of the water, perhaps after all the 
two titles had almost a similar meaning. 

Anyhow, by the pool Sonya chose to 
make a confession. 

“Do you remember, Nona, once long ago, 
or perhaps it just seems a long time to me. 


A Poem and a Conversation 253 


you and I met a Colonel Dalton, an officer 
in the British army whom I had known 
before. I think I promised then to tell you 
of my previous acquaintance with him. I 
had almost forgotten.” 

Nona slipped her arm through her com- 
panion’s. 

‘‘Don’t tell me if you had rather not. 
We will both have a great deal to learn of 
each other when we go back to the United 
States to live together.” 

Sonya smiled. “There, is no use waiting. 
I have never even told you, Nona, whether 
or not I am married. You see, I am often 
called Madame Valesky in Russia, but that 
is only a courtesy title. I have never mar- 
ried. The fact is, I once lived in England 
for some time and was engaged to Colonel 
Dalton. I think we cared a good deal for 
each other, but he was a soldier and we 
did not approve of each other’s views of 
life. So by and by our engagement was 
broken off, which was probably the best 
thing for us both.” 

“Has Colonel Dalton ever married?” 
Nona inquired inconsequentially. 


254 


With the Russian Army 


Her companion shook her head. ‘^Really, 
I don’t know. Suppose we walk on now to 
the hut where your little French girl Nico- 
lete once lived.” 

When the two friends reached the hut, 
Nona Davis exclaimed in amazement: 

‘‘What on earth has happened? Why, 
our hut isn’t a hut any longer; It is a charm- 
ing little house with some one living in it. 
I am going to knock and see who it can be. 
French people are so courteous, I am sure 
they won’t mind telling me.” 

Nona knocked and the next moment the 
door was opened by a young French woman. 
For an instant they stared at each other, 
then kissed in a bewilderingly friendly 
fashion. 

“Why, Nicolete, I can’t believe my own 
eyes!” Nona protested. “What are you 
doing back here in your own little house, 
only it is so changed that I would scarcely 
have recognized it.” 

Nicolete’s dark eyes shone and the vivid 
color flooded her face. 

“I am married,” she explained. “You 
remember Monsieur Renay, whom Made- 


A Poem and a Conversation 255 


moiselle Barbara named ‘Monsieur Bebe?’ 
Well,” Nicolete laughed bewitchingly, “he 
is my husband.” 

“And is he ” Nona asked and hesi- 

tated. 

Nicolete shook her head. “He can tell 
the light from the darkness, and now and 
then can see me moving in the shadow. 
Some day, the doctors say, his sight may 
be fully restored. He has seen the best 
specialists. Madame Eugenie sent us both 
to Paris. She it was who made us a home 
here in the woods out of the old hut, so 
that my husband might have the fresh air 
and grow strong to aid his recovery.” 

“Madame Eugenie,” it was a pretty title 
and one that Eugenia would probably al- 
ways have in this French country, which 
had so long known the olcT Countess as 
Madame Castaigne. 

When Barbara and Mildred returned 
from the chateau Nona sincerely hoped 
they would bring news of Eugenia’s arrival, 
since she was growing more than anxious 
to see her again. 


CHAPTER XIX 


The Reunion 

I N truth, Barbara and Mildred were 
having a delightful afternoon at the 
Chateau d’Amelie. 

When they arrived, solemnly Francois 
invited them into the old French drawing 
room they so well remembered. 

But here, instead of the slender, tiny 
figure of the old Countess appearing to 
greet them, a tall, dark young woman came 
forward, whose hair was wound about her 
head like a coronet. 

‘‘Eugenia!” Barbara exclaimed, and 
straightway shed several tears, while Eu- 
genia and Mildred laughed at her. 

Then the three girls went over and sat 
down on the same Louis XIV sofa that two 
of them had once occupied with young 
Captain Castaigne, on their first visit to 
the chateau. 

This time Eugenia took the place of 

( 256 ) 


The Reunion 


257 


honorln the center, while each hand clasped 
one of her companions. 

“Henri and I arrived just an hour ago,” 
she explained. “He found he could get a 
three days leave to come with me. Of 
course, I wished to rush off to the farm- 
house before I even got my traveling things 
off. But since I am a much managed 
woman these days, I was made to wait 
until you came here. I have been expecting 
you every minute. Now tell me about 
Nona and Madame Valesky.” 

This time it was Barbara who laughed. 
The idea of Eugenia’s being managed in- 
stead of managing other people was amus- 
ing. Besides, it was unlike her to talk so 
fast and ask so many questions without 
giving one time to reply. 

So Barbara only held closer to her friend’s 
hand and looked at her, leaving Mildred 
the opportunity for answering. 

It was still early in the afternoon and the 
sunshine flooded the beautiful drawing 
room. It was strange to see how at home 
Eugenia seemed to look and feel in it, 
when a little more than a year before 


17 


258 


With the Russian Army 


she and the old room had been so an- 
tagonistic. 

Eugenia had changed. In the first place, 
she wore this afternoon a lovely costume of 
violet crepe, trimmed in old gold brocade. 
It was a costume that must have been spe- 
cially designed for Eugenia, so perfectly did 
it suit her rather stately beauty and dark, 
clear coloring. This turned out to be true, 
since Eugenia a short time before had dis- 
covered a little French dressmaker, whom 
the war had rendered penniless, and given 
her work to do. 

Now, even while Mildred was talking of 
Nona and Sonya, the drawing room door 
opened and Captain Castaigne and his 
mother came in. 

Monsieur Le Due accompanied them, but 
promptly deserted his former master and 
mistress and padded over to Eugenia, plac- 
ing his great silver head on her lap and 
gazing at her with adoration. 

Captain Castaigne and his mother fol- 
lowed to greet their guests. In his hand 
the young officer carried a number of letters 
which he gave at once to Barbara and 
Mildred. 


The Reunion 


259 


‘‘These just arrived at the chateau for 
you ; they are American letters and so I am 
sure you will be pleased.” 

Mildred’s were from her mother and 
father and Barbara had received three from 
Dick in this same mail, and another which 
looked as if it might be the long-expected 
letter from Mrs. Thornton. 

After ten minutes of conversation, it was 
Captain Castaigne who proposed that their 
guests might be allowed to read their letters 
without waiting to return home. It was 
not difficult to guess at their impatience, 
since it must have been a long time since 
they had heard from home. 

Then he and Eugenia crossed over to the 
other side of the room and stood by the 
fireplace. Le Due went with them and 
Eugenia kept one hand on the dog’s head. 

Now and then she smiled over some- 
thing Captain Castaigne said to her, then 
again she looked at him with the anxious 
gravity that was a part of Eugenia’s char- 
acter. The war had made the young French 
officer older, love and marriage had appar- 
ently taken ten years from Eugenia’s age. 


260 


With the Russian Army 


Plainly a beautiful understanding existed 
between the husband and wife, in spite of 
the differences in their natures, which would 
survive to the end. 

For when Captain Castaigne suddenly 
lifted his wife’s hand and kissed it, it was 
like Eugenia to blush and whisper a protest, 
at which the young officer only laughed. 

Over by the window Barbara and Mil- 
dred were really too busy with their letters 
to notice what was taking place. Madame 
Castaigne had gone out of the room for the 
instant to speak to Fran9ois. 

Of course, Barbara had read Dick’s let- 
ters first. She could only read them hastily, 
for Dick had written to say that he had a 
fine position with a big real estate office in 
New York City, and enough salary for two 
persons to live upon, in a tiny apartment 
on the west side. Barbara was to come 
home at once, else Dick would probably 
lose his job by deserting to fetch her. Also 
the letter from Mrs. Thornton was cheer- 
ing. Whatever it may have been, some- 
thing had occurred to change that lady’s 
state of mind. Perhaps it was her anxiety 


The Reunion 


261 


about Mildred in the days when she knew 
nothing of her daughter’s fate except that 
Mildred had stayed behind at Grovno until 
the hour of the final surrender of the Russian 
fort. 

For Mrs. Thornton had written to Bar- 
bara to say that she would be most happy 
to welcome her as Dick’s wife, and the 
dearest wish of her heart was to have her 
two daughters safe at home in New York 
City as soon as they were able to return. 

Mildred’s letters were much of the same 
character, and the two girls had only barely 
finished them when Francois appeared bear- 
ing coffee and cakes. 

Then the little party talked on until 
nearly dusk. 

At last, when Barbara and Mildred felt 
compelled to leave, Eugenia proposed that 
she and Captain Castaigne walk over to 
the farmhouse with them. She did not feel 
that she could wait for another day before 
seeing Nona. 

Nona and Sonya had just been in a few 
moments and taken off their wraps when 
the others arrived. And Nona need have 


262 


With the Russian Army 


felt no nervousness over Eugenia’s atti- 
tude toward Sonya. Many things had 
happened to broaden Eugenia’s point of 
view since her arrival in Europe to act as a 
Red Cross nurse. Besides, few persons 
could fail to feel anything but sympathy 
and admiration for the beautiful Russian 
woman, whose life had come so near closing 
in tragedy. 

There was not a great deal of food at the 
farmhouse, nevertheless Eugenia and Cap- 
tain Castaigne remained to dinner. 

Barbara and Mildred retired to act as 
cooks, while Eugenia and Sonya fell to talk- 
ing together, and Nona and Captain Cas- 
taigne. 

In the course of their talk Nona remem- 
bered to inquire for Lieutenant Hume, who 
was Captain Castaigne’s friend. At last 
she might be able to hear real news of the 
young British officer. 

By good fortune Captain Castaigne had 
received a letter written by him in the same 
post that had brought Barbara’s and Mil- 
dred’s letters. 

“Lieutenant Hume had gone to the 


The Reunion 


263 


United States and was living at, the present 
time in Florida. He had appeared to have 
contracted a fatal illness during his im- 
prisonment, but his letter had said he was 
feeling ever so much better. 

“I can’t say how glad I am,” Captain 
Castaigne continued. ^‘There was never a 
braver fellow in the world than Robert 
Hume. And besides, if he should happen 
to die just now, it would be particularly 
hard on his family. You see, Hume’s older 
brother, the one with the title, has just 
been killed in the Dardanelles. Robert 
Hume is Lord Hume now, I believe, and the 
English think more of titles than we do in 
Republican France,” the French officer 
concluded. 

“But I thought,” Nona commented stu- 
pidly, “that Lieutenant Hume was a gar- 
dener’s son and had been educated by 
friends who were interested in him.” 

Then Nona stopped, because Captain 
Castaigne was half smiling and half frown- 
ing over her information. Moreover, Nona 
suddenly remembered that what she was 
saying was founded partly on information 
and the rest on her own fancy. 


264 


With the Russian Army 


‘‘Lieutenant Hume told me he was the 
gardener’s son,” she protested, “or at least 
he called the gardener’s wife ‘Mother 
Susan.’” 

Eugenia had suddenly spoken her hus- 
band’s name and Captain Castaigne had 
gotten up to go over to her. 

However, he stopped long enough to ex- 
postulate. “That was an extraordinary 
idea of yours. Miss Davis. Hume was only 
talking of his old nurse. His mother died 
when he was a baby and she brought him 
up. I have heard him speak of ‘Mother 
Susan’ myself. The Countess you visited 
in Surrey is a cousin of Hume’s, I think, 
and the old nurse and her husband live 
there. Hume was having Mother Susan 
nurse him when you met, I expect. Hope 
you two may see each other some day in 
the United States and laugh over that im- 
pression of yours. Miss Davis,” Captain 
Castaigne concluded, as he walked over to 
his wife’s side. 

At midnight Captain Castaigne and Eu- 
genia went back to the chateau, walking 
hand-in-hand like children through the 


The Reunion 


265 


woods. There was no fighting these days 
in this particular portion of southern France 
and in the peace of the night one could al- 
most forget that the world was at war. 

‘‘You will miss your friends when they 
return to their own country, Eugenie,” 
Captain Castaigne suggested. 

Eugenia nodded. “Yes, they will be 
gone, I believe, in another month. But we 
will go over ourselves some day, Henri, and 
perhaps you may learn to care for my coun- 
try as I do for yours.” 

“Yes, and think of the service I shall 
owe her for the work the American Red 
Cross has done for France!” the young 
officer concluded, and in the darkness lifted 
his cap for a moment. 

“Whatever Lafayette did for you in the 
cause of freedom, your land has now fully 
repaid.” 


THE END 


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